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Delhi HC dismisses PIL challenging RBI’s decision to withdraw ₹2,000 notes
The petitioner had contended in his plea that the RBI has no power to withdraw 2,000-rupee currency notes from circulation and only the Centre could have taken a decision in this regard
The Delhi high court on Monday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to withdraw ₹2,000 banknotes from circulation.
RBI had on May 19 announced the withdrawal of ₹2,000 currency notes from circulation.
The central bank has asked banks to provide deposit and exchange facilities for ₹2,000 notes until September 30, 2023.
“Dismissed,” a bench of chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma and justice Subramonium Prasad said while rejecting the plea on which it had reserved its order on the PIL on May 30 after hearing the arguments of counsels for the petitioner and the RBI.
Also Read:About 80% choose to deposit Rs2000 notes instead of exchanging: Report
A detailed copy of the judgment is awaited.
Petitioner Rajneesh Bhaskar Gupta had contended in his plea that the RBI has no power to withdraw 2,000-rupee currency notes from circulation and only the Centre could have taken a decision in this regard.
The petition mentioned that RBI has no independent power under the Reserve Bank of India Act to take such a decision.
It also contends that the decision to withdraw the banknote only after 4-5 years of circulation within a specific deadline is “unjust, arbitrary and against the public policy”.
Submitting that the impugned circular does not mention that the central government has taken the decision, the PIL submits that no other reason except the ‘Clean Note Policy’ has been given by the RBI to take such a “big arbitrary decision” on the withdrawal of the banknotes from circulation “without analysing the expected problems of the public at large”.
The petitioner has contended that small vendors and shopkeepers have already stopped taking ₹2,000 notes.
RBI has not cleared so far what is the benefit to the RBI or national economy after withdrawing the denomination of ₹2000 banknote from circulation, the petition said.
RBI had argued that the removal of ₹2,000 is a whole exercise under the currency management system while reiterating that it is not demonetisation.
Advocate Parag P Tripathi, for RBI, had contended that the ₹2,000 note is not being used as a currency and it is virtually kept out of circulation for some time now.
He further said that over time, the quality of the ₹2,000 notes had deteriorated.
Earlier too, the court had dismissed lawyer and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwini Upadhyay’s plea challenging the RBI’s permission for exchanging ₹2,000 currency notes without any identity proof following the withdrawal of the highest-value currency notes from circulation, saying it was done to ensure a smooth transition of ₹2,000 denomination banknotes.
“In order to facilitate the exchange of ₹2,000 denomination banknotes with other denomination banknotes, the government has given a window of four months to the citizens and in order to avoid inconvenience to citizens, the government is not insisting on providing any kind of identification,” the court had said in its judgment of May 29.
