High Court refuses to interfere with Rs 2.5L wedding withdrawal cap

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Centre’s decision to put a Rs 2.5 lakh wedding withdrawal cap, saying there is “no restriction” on “non-cash” transaction.

It also held that policy decisions are taken by the government after considering expert opinion and hence, there was very limited scope for their judicial review.

“The law is well settled that on matters affecting policy.

“This court will not interfere unless the policy is unconstitutional or contrary to statutory provisions or arbitrary or irrational or in abuse of power, since the policy decisions are taken based on expert knowledge and the courts are normally not equipped to question the correctness of the same.

“The scope of judicial enquiry is therefore confined to the question whether the decision taken by the government is against any statutory provision or it violates the fundamental rights of the citizens or is opposed to the provisions of the Constitution of India,” a Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal said.

It said that the restriction on inflow of liquid cash may have resulted in some inconvenience but there was 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 or debit cards, mobile wallets and electronic fund transfer mechanisms or the like”.

It dismissed the plea of advocate Birender Sangwan, who had sought relaxation on the decision to put a cap of Rs 2.5 lakh on withdrawal for wedding.