Court cannot stop govt from bringing law on cryptocurrencies, says SC

business-standard.com:

The Supreme Court said on Friday it cannot stop the government from bringing a legislation in Parliament on crypto currencies and dismissed a plea challenging constitution of an inter-ministerial committee to make recommendations to the Centre on virtual currencies.

Crypto currencies are digital or virtual currencies in which encryption techniques are used to regulate generation of their units and verify the transfer of funds while operating independently of a central bank.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli termed the PIL filed by a private firm "misconceived" and dismissed it.

"There is no actionable cause for a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution. The Court cannot interdict the Government from bringing a legislative proposal before Parliament, the bench said.

At the outset, the court said, "What kind of plea is this? Government has made an inter-ministerial committee (IMC), so you filed a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution? You want to challenge the proposed law. You're going by RTI response." Advocate Prabhat Kumar, appearing for the firm, said the finance minister had announced in the budget speech that crypto currencies are not legal tender nor are they safe and now the government is saying they will make a law.

The bench noted it was a constitutional issue and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular only advises and is not binding on the government.

It noted in the order that invoking the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution, the petitioner seeks to challenge a communication dated September 2, 2021 of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs.

"The communication is in response to a query under the