New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and State Bank of India (SBI) regulations that allow the exchange of Rs 2,000 banknotes without a requisition slip or identification verification were the subject of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which the Delhi High Court reserved judgement on on Tuesday.
The argument claimed that the decision violated Article 14 of the Indian Constitution and was therefore invalid since it was arbitrary and unreasonable.
Justices Satish Chander Sharma and Subramonium Prasad's panel stated on Tuesday that the court will issue the proper ruling while reserving its decision. Senior attorney Parag Tripathi rejected the plea and asserted that it is a statutory exercise rather than a demonetisation while speaking on behalf of the RBI.
Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a BJP leader and lawyer, had filed the petition. He also asked the RBI and SBI for instructions to ensure that only Rs 2,000 banknotes are deposited in their respective bank accounts, so that no one could deposit the money in another person's account and people with black money and disproportionate assets could be easily identified.
In his arguments before the Court, petitioner's attorney Ashwini Upadhyay made it clear that he was only challenging the notification's provision that permits the exchange of money without providing identification.
In order to eradicate corruption, stop benami transactions, and protect citizens' fundamental rights, the petition further requested for a directive to the Centre to take the proper action against black money and disproportionate asset holders.
According to the RBI, the total value of the in circulation Rs 2,000 banknotes has decreased from Rs 6.73 lakh crore to Rs 3.62 lakh crore, of which Rs 3.11 lakh crore has either reached or has been hoarded by separatists, terrorists, Maoists, drug smugglers, mining mafias, and corrupt people.
There are currently 142 billion people living in India, 30 billion families, and 130 billion of them have an AADHAAR card. Thus, every family possesses three to four AADHAAR cards. Similar to this, there are 225 crore accounts overall, 48 crore of which are Jana Dhan accounts for BPL families. The petition argued that this implies that every family has a bank account.
The Centre recently declared that every family has an AADHAAR card and a bank account. "So why is RBI allowed to swap Rs 2,000 rupees without requesting identification? It is also important to note that free grains are provided to 80 crore BPL families. It implies that 80 billion Indians hardly ever utilise Rs. 2,000 bills. As a result, the petitioner also requests instructions from the RBI and SBI on how to ensure that only bank accounts are used to deposit Rs 2000 banknotes, the plea said.
Majority of Rs 2,000 notes will come back from circulation by Sept 30, RBI Das
Congress targets PM Modi over withdrawal of Rs. 2,000 notes
Rs2,000 notes withdrawal: What the Ex-Chief Economic Advisor says