HC no to plea against Rs 2.5 lakh wedding withdrawal cap

Refusing to interfere in a government policy matter, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea that sought relaxation of the Rs 2.5 lakh withdrawal limit for marriages.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal said the law is well settled that court will not interfere on matters affecting policy "unless the policy is unconstitutional/contrary to statutory provisions/arbitrary/ irrational or in abuse of power."

The court refused to interfere in the government politcy matter on the November 8 demonetisation, saying: "... since the policy decisions are taken based on expert knowledge and the courts are normally not equipped to question the correctness of the same."

It added: "It is also a settled principle of law that the power of judicial review cannot be extended to determine the correctness of a policy decision or to find out whether there could be more appropriate or better alternatives."

The court's order came on a plea filed by Birender Sangwan against the cap of Rs 2.5 lakh on bank withdrawals for marriages.

The petitioner said some kind of liberty should be given to parents of prospective bride and groom to withdraw money as per their requirements and the cap should be relaxed.

The court order said: "Be that as it may, restrictions on inflow of liquid cash might have resulted in some inconvenience to the public. However, having regard to the fact that there is no restriction at all with regard to use of any non-cash method of operating bank accounts of a person such as payment through cheques, demand drafts, credit/debit cards, mobile wallets and electronic fund transfer mechanisms or the like, we are of the view that the contentions raised by the petitioner are without substance."

The High Court said it will pass order on Friday on another public interest litigation seeking the recall of its earlier order wherein it dismissed a plea to remove the cap on daily withdrawals of money deposited in banks before the demonetisation decision.

Petitioner Ashok Sharma had accused the Centre of making a false court statement that the restriction on cash withdrawal of Rs 24,000 by an individual was only till November 24 when in fact it was extended till December 30.

--IANS

gt/tsb/vm