HC notice to RBI on plea challenging collection of excess demonetised notes
The order came after central government’s counsel Hiten Venegaonkar pointed that plea was primarily against RBI, but the centraI bank was not party to the litigation.
Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) following a public interest litigation seeking an investigation into the purportedly excessive collection of scrapped currency notes after demonetisation in 2016.
The division bench of acting chief justice BP Dharmadhikari and justice NR Borkar asked the petitioner, Manoranjan Roy, to add RBI as a party respondent to his petition and issued a notice to the centraI bank.
The order came after central government’s counsel Hiten Venegaonkar pointed that plea was primarily against RBI, but the centraI bank was not party to the litigation.
Roy’s lawyer, advocate Tanveer Nizam, pointed out RBI’s annual reports between April 1, 2000, and March 31, 2018, show that during this period currency notes of ₹500 and ₹1000 amounting to ₹14,11,350 crore were in circulation in the country.
But RBI collected the scrapped notes worth ₹15,28,000 crore during a short span of time after the demonetisation in November 2016. Thus, the petitioner claimed, the central bank collected ₹116,650 crore in excess in terms of the demonetised notes.
In his PIL, Roy alleged that after demonetisation certain RBI officials extended undue benefit to some people by getting their unaccounted old currency notes of ₹500 and ₹1000 with the help of National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD).
The Juhu resident has also pointed out that between April 2000 and March 2016, the currency note printing press supplied 10,400 million pieces of ₹1000 notes but between April 2003 and March 2018 RBI had 11,222 million pieces of soiled notes in the same denomination.
Thus, he claimed, RBI has disposed excess 822 million soiled currency notes during this period. As regards ₹500 notes, he said, between April 2000 and March 2016 RBI received 37,523 million notes, but disposed 39,875 million notes.
The 48-year-old has also pointed at the huge mismatch between figures relating to the demonotised notes given by RBI in its annual report released in March 2017 and its subsequent release.
While the annual report stated the RBI received ₹11,14,950 crore in terms of demonetised notes, the release issued in December 2016 said the amount stood at ₹12,24,400 crore – ₹1,29,050 crore more than what was declared in the annual report.
Roy has also expressed grave concern over the role played by NABARD controlled state co-operative banks and district co-operative banks in surrendering demonetised Rs. 1000 notes, as 402 branches of these banks had received 151,798 crore pieces of those currency notes in only four days between November 10, 2016—two days after ₹500 and ₹1000 notes were demonetised—and November 14, 2016.
He therefore sought an independent investigation into the issue. He has also sought a direction to the director general of the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau to investigate the complaints lodged by him in this regard.
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