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

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 ...