The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) contesting a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notification allowing the exchange of ₹2000 currency notes without any identity proof.
The plea filed by BJP leader and counsel Ashwini Upadhyay was rejected by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.
Upadhyay stated in his petition that the RBI has allowed the exchange of notes without requiring a requisition slip or identity proof, which is arbitrary and irrational.
“It is necessary to state that the RBI admits in para-2 that the total value of ₹2000 banknotes in circulation has decreased from ₹6.73 lakh crore to ₹3.62 lakh crore, of which ₹3.11 lakh crore has been reached either in an individual’s locker or has been hoarded by separatists, terrorists, maoists, drug smugglers, mining mafias, and corrupt people,” the petition stated.
Upadhyay said that he had not contested the notification as a whole, but merely the provision enabling money exchange without any identity proof.
“For the first time, people can bring their money to banks and exchange it. “Gangsters, mafias, and their henchmen can come and exchange money,” he stated.
On May 19, the RBI notified the withdrawal of ₹2,000 notes. It also stated that the currency will remain legal tender. The RBI has advised people should deposit the banknotes into their bank accounts or exchange them for other denomination notes at bank branches.
Meanwhile, the RBI stated that the withdrawal of ₹2,000 notes was a statutory exercise, not demonetization.
