Rs.2000 Currency Notes Exchange Plea

The Reserve Bank of India and State Bank of India’s announcements allowing the exchange of Rs. 2000 currency notes without the need for any identity documentation were challenged in a public interest lawsuit, which the Delhi High Court dismissed on Monday. Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a leader of the BJP, and Justice Subramonium Prasad of a division bench of the Supreme Court rejected the argument. A copy of the comprehensive judgement is expected.

Senior Advocate Parag P Tripathi, who was representing RBI at the hearing last week, opposed the plea and demanded that it be rejected with exceptional costs. “This is not a demonetization programme…This is a required activity. He maintained that none of the points made by his scholarly buddy [Upadhyay] have any bearing on current political situations. Tripathi also cited a number of Supreme Court rulings that stated that courts would not be persuaded to become involved in concerns of economic policy.

The Union Ministries of Home Affairs and Finance, SBI, and RBI were the respondents in the lawsuit. Chetan Sharma, ASG, spoke on behalf of the Union of India. Upadhyay had also asked that the RBI and SBI be instructed to make sure that the Rs. 2000 currency notes be only put in their respective bank accounts, so that no one could deposit the money in other accounts and persons with black money and disproportionate assets could be easily detected. In order to “weed out corruption, benami transactions, and secure fundamental rights of citizens,” he had also asked for guidance on the proper course of action to take against black money and disproportionate asset holders.”

“Recently, it was announced by the Centre that every family has AADHAAR Card and Bank Account. Therefore, why RBI is permitting to exchange Rs. 2000 banknotes without obtaining identity proof. It is also necessary to state that 80 Crore BPL families receive free grains. It means 80 crore Indians rarely use Rs. 2,000/- banknotes. Therefore, petitioner also seeks direction to RBI and SBI to take steps to ensure that Rs. 2000 banknotes are deposited in bank account only,” the plea stated.

The RBI has declared its intention to stop issuing Rs. 2000 notes. But it also said that the cash would remain legal tender. According to the RBI, people can deposit 2000 rupee bills into their bank accounts or swap them for bills of other denominations at any bank branch.

Written By- Smrutiman Anantveer Mohanty, College Name- Army Law College, Pune, an intern under Legal Vidhiya

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