Delhi HC dismisses petition against Rs 2.5 lakh withdrawal cap for weddings

Govt opposed petition stating adequate relaxations were already in place to address inconveniences of citizens

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking relaxation of the Rs 2.5 lakh withdrawal limit set for weddings after the government's recent currency demonetisation drive.

Apart from seeking the relaxation, the petition filed by Birender Sangwan had also challenged the requirements put in place by the Centre for such withdrawals, including the necessity of providing detailed lists of whom such money was to be paid and declarations of such individuals not possessing their own bank accounts.

"Liberty must be given for marriages so that one can pay as per customs. How can somebody give such an undertaking? As per the guidelines, even the priest who performs a marriage has to give an undertaking of not having a bank account," the plea had said.

The government had opposed the petition by stating that adequate relaxations were already in place to address the inconveniences of citizens, but certain restrictions were required to prevent misuse and achieve the objectives of the scheme.

"If we will not put these conditions, anybody can get a marriage card printed and go to the bank to withdraw Rs 2.5 lakh," Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, told the court in earlier hearings.

Though the bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal had on November 28, reserved its decision on the issue, it commented that the Centre seemed to have provided sufficient allowances for withdrawals wherever necessary.

Last week, the court had dismissed a similar plea seeking relaxation of the weekly withdrawal cap of Rs 24,000 while also clarifying that it would not go into the correctness of the demonetisation policy as the Supreme Court was already seized of the issue.

The apex court is currently considering a transfer petition moved by the Centre to consolidate the numerous pleas initiated in the various high courts against the November 8 demonetisation decision. The matter is expected to come up for hearing on December 2.