The Supreme Court said that it will not take legal action against the 14 petitioners.
Fourteen petitioners who couldn't deposit their demonetised currency during the window provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after the demonetisation announcement last November and approached the Supreme Court were today told that a five-judge Constitution Bench will look into their individual pleas. The bench will also decide the validity of Centre's decision to demonetise currency notes, the top court added.
Attorney General KK Venugopal said that the government will not take any coercive action against them for possessing demonetised currency.
The 14 petitioners, including NRIs who were not in the country when demonetisation was announced, however, said that they neither challenged the constitutional validity of the demonetisation nor the provisions of the RBI Act. They just want to deposit their old currency notes.
"Our hard-earned money has been confiscated without due process of law and without granting fair opportunity," lawyer Pranav Sachdeva, appearing for one of the petitioners said.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud while disposing of their individual petitions asked them to file applications in the pending petitions which would be handled by the constitution bench later.
The top court had in December last year referred to a Constitution Bench the issue of validity of the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes adding that to challenge the decision was of "public importance" as several complaints of inconvenience were registered in its aftermath.