Dubbing demonetisation a “complete failure” and its implementation a “total fiasco”, Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday sought its rollback and intervention of the Chief Justice of India and the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Capt Amarinder, in a letter to the Chief Justices, urged them to treat his communication as a “public interest petition” and demanded intervention in what he termed as “a clear violation of the people's fundamental rights”.
Expressing concern over the deaths, suicides and other tragic losses in various parts of the country following demonetisation, he called upon the government to look at “some alternate solution” to its decision.
“In any case, it was not achieving its objective of curbing black money,” he said pointing out that huge sums of money in new currency were being recovered from individuals while the common people were unable to get even the bare minimum needed for their survival.
Capt Amarinder said: “Concerned over the shocking deaths and tragic losses being suffered by people, I have requested Chief Justices of India and the Punjab and Haryana High Court to treat his letter as a public interest petition and issue suitable directives to the government to prevent further aggravation of the tensions triggered by the ill-conceived demonetisation move.”
In his letter, he said that demonetisation order “lacked legal backing” and was subject to judicial scrutiny since it was a mere notification.
He also termed it a “violation of the people's right” to use their property (bank account being property) under Article 31 of the Constitution of India. “It was violative of the fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 21 as it deprived people of their right to business, profession, travel and access to healthcare,” he said in his letter.
In Punjab's context, Capt Amarinder said that the agriculture sector, which was largely dependent on cash transactions, had been hit hard, along with the informal sector.
Punjab Congress chief said that the Indian society was not ready for cashless transactions, with people not having access to even banks, leave alone credit and debit cards. He pointed out that in Punjab alone, as many as 7,000 villages have no local bank branch.
He also lashed out at Modi government for reducing new currency notes to publicity leaflets for his government's ‘Swachch Bharat’ scheme in “violation” of all political, electoral and economic norms.
Terming the use of ‘Swachh Bharat’ logo on currency notes as “serious abuse” of official powers and against all norms of electoral propriety, Capt Amarinder said that he would raise the issue with the Election Commission.