“After demonetisation, the black money hoarders do not even have the money they once used to have in their pyjamas,” Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi Rohatgi submitted in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

He said 3.25 lakh crore in Rs. 500/1000 notes was deposited out of 15 or 16 lakh crore in circulation. At least, Rs. 10 to 11 lakh crore is expected to come in.

The only argument

“Everyday we will add Rs. 10,000 crore,” Mr. Rohatgi submitted. He said the only argument raised against demonetisation was “inconvenience.”

“Some collateral damage will take place. I could not calibrate the two lakh ATMs, that would have brought the cat out of the bag. I could not print or keep the new money in godowns. There is some pain, we understand. But our objective is to wipe out black money and end terror financing,” Mr. Rohatgi said.

“Though it is not in our or anybody’s interest to have people wait in queues, I have to say that for 50 years, when others were in power, we used to wait for our Fiat car, gas and phone connection ... We waited. Now, people are willing to wait,” he said.

Jan Dhan accounts

He said the “poor man” did not anyway have excess cash. “Poor man does not have Rs. 20 lakh,” the A-G said, adding that there were 22 crore Jan Dhan accounts.

“Indians are intelligent. After the notification, they booked air tickets and train reservations with their black money only to withdraw them in new notes,” Mr. Rohatgi submitted.

He said though there was “some pain,” people could make transactions through Paytm, cards, online transfers, etc. At this point, Mr. Sibal retorted: “Paytm is a Chinese company. And yes ... now we have become a truly cashless society. Nobody has any money with them.”

“Through people’s money, they want to wipe out the non-performing assets of the rich. People are dying,” Mr. Sibal submitted.

In his submissions, Mr. Sibal asked how banks, which were only trustees of a person’s money, could restrict withdrawal.

“Under what right can you restrict my right to withdrawal?” he asked.

Mr. Sibal said the previous “demonetisation” in 1978 only dealt with high denomination notes which only comprised two per cent of the currency value in circulation. Now, Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes occupied 86 per cent of the currency value.

SC told 3.25 lakh crore of old notes were deposited out

of 15 or 16 lakh

crore in circulation