New Delhi: Regarding the plea seeking recall of all currency notes above Rs 100, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the Centre and Delhi government's reply.
The petitioner is seeking to restrict cash transactions above Rs 10,000 and link assets worth more than Rs 50,000 with Aadhaar to check corruption. They also wanted cash transactions to be restricted on the purchase of air tickets, rail tickets, electricity bills, LPG bills, CNG bills, municipality bills, and other such bills of Rs 10,000 and above. The plea claimed that it is a practical solution to curb corruption, the generation of black money, money laundering, benami transactions, and amassing disproportionate assets. Purchases from e-commerce platforms were also mentioned in the plea.
"Even after 75 years of independence and 73 years after becoming a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic, none of the districts are free from bribery, black money, benami transactions, disproportionate assets, tax evasion, money laundering," said the petition.
"Similarly, no district is free from the clutches of mafias like land mafia, drug-liquor mafia, mining mafia, transfer-posting mafia, betting mafia, tender mafia, hawala mafia, illegal immigration mafia, conversion mafia, superstition-black magic mafia, and white-collar political mafia," added the petitioner.
It further said: "India cannot move forward without clean and transparent governance for which a corruption-free society is a basic requirement. Confiscating all black money, disproportionate assets, and benami property and giving rigorous life imprisonment to "looters" was also suggested.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked the counsel for the Central and Delhi governments to obtain instructions. But, no formal notice was issued.
Petitioner and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay also sought direction from the Centre and states to take appropriate steps to restrict cash transactions in all industrial and domestic goods, products, and services to the maximum retail price of Rs 10,000.
The matter will be next heard in August.