The provisions of the High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Act, 1978, were valid and did not violate any fundamental rights of the petitioners. The time limit specified in Sections 7 and 8 of the Act for the exchange of high denomination bank notes was reasonable and the compensation provided for the acquisition of the public debt was adequate.

( 1 ) THIS judgment will dispose of Civil Writ Petns. Nos. 1009 to 1012 of 1980 and 1141 and 1669 of 1979 wherein the validity of some of the provisions of the High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the Demonetisation Act ) has been challenged. The petitioners are aggrieved because they have not been paid the exchange value of the high denomination notes which were held by them and which had been demonetised.

( 2 ) APART from challenging the validity of Ss. 7 and 8 of the Demonetisation Act. the petitioners are also aggrieved by the orders, passed under the Demonetisation Act, declining to pay them the exchange value of the demonetised notes held by them. The reasons for this refusal vary from case to case and the petitioners contention in this regard will be dealt with separately.

( 3 ) AS the Parliament was not in session the President promulgated the High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Ordinance, 1978 which came into effect on 16th Jan. , 1978. It is not necessary to refer to the terms of this Ordinance because with the enactment of the Demonetisation Act the Ordinance stands repealed. The Act, which received the assent of the President OB 30th March, 1978 was given retrospective effect from 16th Jan. , 1978. The high denomination notes which were sought to be demonetised by the Act were the bank notes of the value of one thousand rupees, fivethousand rupees and ten thousand rupees which had been issued by the Reserve Bank of India. Section 3 of the Demonetisation Act provided that the high denomination bank notes shall cease to be legal tender The said section reads as under:

"3. High denomination bank notes to cease to be legal tender. On the expiry of the 16th day of Jan. , 1978, all high denomination bank notes shall, notwithstanding anything contained in S. 26 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, cease to be legal tender in payment or on account at any place. "the prohibition of transfer and receipt of high denomination notes was provided by Section 4 which reads as follows:

"4. Prohibition of transfer and receipt of high denomination bank notes. Save as provided by or under this Act, no person shall, after the 16th of Jan. , 1978, transfer to the possession of another person or receive into his possession from another person any high denomination bank note. "two more sections are relevant for our purpose, namely, Ss. 7 and 8 of the Demonetisation Act. The relevant portions of the said sections, which provide for exchange of high denomination bank notes within and after the stipulated period, read as under:

"7. Exchange of high denomination bank notes held by other persons. (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, any high denomination bank note owned by a person other than a bank or Government Treasury may be exchanged after the 16th day of Jan. , 1978, only on tender of the note (a) where the high denomination bank note is owned by an individual, by the individual himself; or where the individual is absent from India, by the individual concerned or tome person duly authorised by him in this behalf; or where the individual is mentally incapacitated from attending to his affairs, by his guardian or by any other person competent to act on his behalf; (b) to (f ). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and within the time and in the manner provided in this section. (2) Every person desiring to tender for exchange a high denomination bank note under this section shall prepare in the form set out in the Schedule three copies of a declaration signed by him giving in full the particulars required by that form and shall, not later than the 19th day of Jan. , 1978, deliver such copies in person together with the high denomination bank notes he desires to exchange (a) to (c ). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Provided that if such person resides in a place not within convenient reach of