'DeMo' was to convert black money but...

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: The demonetisation of high-denomination currency notes on November 8, 2016, was a way of converting black money into white, Supreme Court’s Justice BV Nagarathna said on Saturday, Bar and Bench reported.

“We all know what happened on November 8, 2016, when Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes were demonetised,” Nagarathna was quoted as saying at the Courts and the Constitution annual conference at a law university in Hyderabad.

“The interesting aspect is that in the Indian economy at that time, Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes comprised 86% of the currency, which the central government lost sight of while demonetising the currency notes.”

On Saturday, the judge questioned the goal of the demonetisation exercise since 98% of the currency came back into circulation.

“So, where are we in black money eradication,” she asked.

“So I thought [at the time] it was a good way of making black money white money, of unaccounted cash entering the system. What happened with regard to income tax proceedings thereafter, we do not know. So this common man’s predicament really stirred me and I had to dissent.”