JUDGMENT

M.K. Mukherjee, J.-The constitutional validity of the High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the Demonetisation Act ) and the legality of certain orders passed thereunder are under challenge in these petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. The Act replaced an Ordinance, bearing a similar title, which was promulgated by the President and had come into force on January 16, 1978. To appreciate the contentions raised on behalf of the petitioners it will be necessary, at this stage to refer not only to the relevant provisions of the Demonetisation Act but also of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 ( RBI Act for short), which empowers Reserve Bank of India ( Bank for short) to issue bank notes and imposes an obligation upon it to exchange those notes.

2. The Bank has been constituted under the RBI Act to regulate the issue of bank notes and the keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage. Section 22 of that Act provides that the Bank shall have the sole right to issue bank notes. Section 24, which pres