Sanjay Hegde (@sanjayuvacha) tweeted: “A very good argument on how the #DeMonetisation ordinance could become the first casualty of a new judgment":
Alok Prasanna Kumar (@alokpi) tweeted: “Shubhankar Dam connects the SC’s recent ordinance judgment with the demonetisation ordinance’s illegality”
Karuna Nundy (@karunanundy) tweeted: “Piece doesn’t distinguish notifications from ordinances - and Nov 8 demonetisation was by notification.”
Silently, India’s supreme court has set off a chain of events that could torpedo Modi’s demonetisation move
On Dec. 30, 2016, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi cajoled president Pranab Mukherjee into promulgating the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, 2016. Two days later, on Jan. 02, 2017, the supreme court, in a separate matter, delivered a verdict that changed the law of ordinances in powerful ways. It scrubbed out old meanings, unearthed new ones, and further garrisoned judges’ hold on the constitution. A prohibitive change has swept in. Ordinances now face constitutional fire in ways they never have.
In the immediate crosshairs, perhaps, is Modi’s demonetisation decree. A lawfully-safe ordinance has overnight become constitutionally suspect.
Why? How? What now?