Delhi High Court dismisses plea against withdrawal of Rs 2000 notes
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The Delhi High Court dismissed a PIL challenging the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes from circulation, saying the notification is part of the currency management system of the central bank. The High Court said that the RBI has only directed banks not to issue Rs 2,000 denomination notes to their customers to ensure that they are not in circulation even though they remain legal tender. The Court said, the fact that the permission to exchange Rs 2,000 note is available only till September 23, 2023, does not mean that RBI has issued a direction that Rs 2,000 note will be discontinued from September 23.
Instructions not to issue Rs 2,000 notes
Therefore, the RBI has not violated the powers conferred under the RBI Act or the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, said a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramaniam Prasad in a judgement. This decision of the bench was made available today. The High Court dismissed a PIL filed by Rajneesh Bhaskar Gupta, who argued that the RBI has no power to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes from circulation and that the power to do so rests only with the central government. The bench said that it is within the jurisdiction of the RBI to issue the notification, which is a part of the currency management system and the notification is merely a direction to the banks not to issue Rs 2,000 notes.
Keeping in view the above facts, the petition is dismissed.
The bench said, the circular is not a direction to print or discontinue the Rs 2,000 bank note, which is the domain of the central government and courts generally do not interfere in policy matters unless the decision is completely arbitrary. Keeping in view the above facts, the petition is dismissed. The High Court said that till the bank notes of Rs 2,000 denomination remain legal tender, it cannot be said that various banks have been instructed by the RBI not to issue these bank notes from their currency reserves. The bench said that the RBI’s decision is only for the management of notes in circulation.
Currency Management Exercise and Economic Policy Matters
The petitioner had stated in his plea that the RBI has no independent power to direct non-issue or discontinuance of bank notes of any denomination and that this power rests only with the Center under Section 24(2) of the RBI Act, 1934. contained in. The RBI opposed the plea saying it was only withdrawing the Rs 2,000 note from circulation which was a currency management exercise and a matter of economic policy.
Notifications issued by RBI and SBI arbitrary
Earlier, the High Court had dismissed a plea by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who had claimed that the notifications issued by the RBI and SBI to replace Rs 2,000 denomination notes without identity certificates were arbitrary and to prevent corruption. Were against the laws made for. The High Court had said that this has been done to avoid inconvenience to the citizens and the court cannot sit as an appellate authority on any policy decision.
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