National Desk, 22 May: A PIL (Public Interest Litigation) was filed in the Delhi High Court on Monday against the permission to exchange Rs 2,000 notes without taking any requisition slips and identity cards. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, in his petition filed by Lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, pointed out that the notification issued by the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of India in this regard was arbitrary and unreasonable and had termed article 14 of the Constitution of India as an insult to Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
The petition states that a large amount of money is either in the locker of individuals or is being stored by separatists, terrorists, Maoists, drug peddlers, mafia or corrupt people. The petition states that cash transactions are the main source of corruption in case of higher value money.
The plea also said that the high value money was used for illegal activities like terrorism, Naxalism, separatism, extremism, gambling, smuggling, money laundering, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and dowry. In such cases, the RBI and SBI should ensure that the bank notes of Rs 2000 are credited only in their respective bank accounts.
Recently, the Centre had announced that “everyone in all families must have an Aadhaar card and a bank account. So why is the RBI allowing exchange of Rs 2000 notes without proof of identity? It is also important to mention that 80 crore BPL families in the country get free ration. This means that the Rs 2,000 note is rarely used by 80 crore Indians. The petitioner has therefore urged the court to take steps to ensure that the RBI and SBI make arrangements for depositing rs 2000 notes only in bank accounts. ”
Depositing Rs 2000 notes in bank accounts can easily identify people with black money and disproportionate assets, the petition said. On May 19, the Reserve Bank of India announced to stop the circulation of Rs 2,000 notes and said that the existing notes can either be deposited in bank accounts or exchanged by September 30.
An RBI statement stated that banknotes worth Rs 2000 will remain in the form of legal currency (Rs 2000 denomination will continue to be a legal tender). In order to ensure operational facilities and in the interest of not disrupting the regular functioning of bank branches, the RBI has pointed out that from May 23, any bank can transact up to Rs 20,000 at a time in case of exchange of Rs 2000 notes to other denomination notes.
State Bank of India in a communication to the chief managers of all local headquarters mentioned that the facility of exchanging Rs 2000 notes will be provided by the public up to the limit of Rs 20,000 at a time without any requisition. Apart from this a message on May 20 said that the transactionalist should not submit any id card at the time of change.