The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought Centre and
Delhi government's response on a plea seeking to restrict cash transactions of
goods, products and services purchased through online shopping platforms like
Amazon and Flipkart.
A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra
Sharma and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was dealing with the PIL moved by advocate
and BJP leader Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay, which also seeks court's direction for
measures to reduce corruption and for restricting cash transaction of air
ticket, rail ticket, electricity bill and other bills of Rs 10,000 and above.
Although the court did not issue a formal notice in
the matter, it asked the counsel appearing for the Central and Delhi government
-- Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma and advocate Santosh Kumar
Tripathi, respectively -- to obtain instructions in the matter, and listed it
for hearing in August.
Upadhyay has argued in the plea that the PIL's
requests are a "practical solution" to the problems of corruption,
the production of black money, money laundering, benami transactions, and
disproportionate assets.
"Similarly, no district is free from the clutches
of mafias' viz. land mafia, drug-liquor mafia, mining mafia, transfer-posting
mafia, betting mafia tender mafia, hawala mafia illegal immigration mafia
conversion mafia, superstition-black magic mafia and white-collar political
mafia, dividing society on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex and place of
birth," the plea states.
The government must examine the good practices of
other nations that are in the top 20 in the Corruption Perception Index and put
them into use in order to send a strong message that it is committed to
combating the threat of corruption and black money.
The plea states: "Moreover, India cannot move
forward without clean-transparent governance for which corruption-free society
is a basic requirement and that is impossible without recalling currency above
Rs 100, restricting cash transactions above Rs 10,000 linking assets above Rs
50,000, with Aadhaar and confiscating cent per cent black money,
disproportionate assets, and benami property and giving rigorous life
imprisonment to looters."