Courts have not been set up to validate govt's illegal decisions, says Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena

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The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Wednesday said the courts have not been set up to validate "illegal decisions" of the government, and to declare demonetisation as valid was tantamount to defending "economic massacre".

While four judges of the Supreme Court bench held the 2016 demonetisation carried out by the Narendra Modi government to be valid, "the country is proud of Justice (B V) Nagarathna who recorded it bluntly that it was a high-handed move", the editorial in the party's Marathi newspaper 'Saamana' said.

Justice Nagarathna's dissenting judgement was "the public opinion of the country", it said.

"The courts have not been set up to validate illegal decisions of the government," the editorial said, listing the recent decisions including the Pegasus spyware and Rafale fighter jet cases which went in the government's favour.

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"To say that demonetisation was valid is to defend the economic massacre in the country," the editorial said.

The Supreme Court in a 4:1 verdict on Monday gave its stamp of approval to the Centre's 2016 decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination currency notes, saying the decision-making process was neither flawed nor hasty.

There was consultation between the Reserve Bank of India and Union government for six months before the notification was issued, it noted.

The Saamana editorial, meanwhile, also said that none of the stated goals of demonetisation were achieved, and it only helped those who were close to the government convert black money into white.

It was told that the decision was taken to stop circulation of fake notes and hurt the finances of terrorists in Kashmir, it said.

Black money, terrorism, narcotics trade are still happening, and drugs worth several lakh crore have been seized from a Gujarat port, it said.

Hundreds of people died standing in queues outside banks (to withdraw money) while the decision also hit businesses and rendered lakhs of people jobless, the editorial said.