Delhi High Court reserves verdict on PIL challenging RBI notification withdrawing Rs 2000 banknotes from circulation.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a plea challenging the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notification withdrawing Rs 2000 banknotes from circulation.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad reserved its verdict on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Rajneesh Bhaskar Gupta challenging the decision of the RBI to withdraw Rs 2000 banknotes from circulation, as per reports.

Gupta, in his plea, has said that the RBI does not have the power to take a decision on the withdrawal of any currency notes under the RBI Act and only the central government has such authority to take decisions in this regard. The High Court had on Monday dismissed a plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay challenging the notifications of RBI and State Bank of India (SBI) allowing exchange of Rs 2,000 banknotes without identity proof. challenging the exchange

The High Court, while dismissing Upadhyay’s plea, said that decision taken by the government in relation to the economic policies is not ordinarily interfered with by the courts unless the decision of the government is manifestly arbitrary and that this decision of the government is purely a policy decision and courts should not sit as an appellate authority over the decision taken by the government.

The High Court, in its order dismissing Upadhyay’s PIL, said that the decision of the government is only to withdraw Rs.2000 denomination banknotes from circulation for the reason that the purpose of issuing these denominations has achieved its purpose which was to meet the currency requirement of the economy in an expeditious manner in November, 2016.

The central government had announced demonetisation in November 2016 and all Rs.500 and Rs.1000 denomination banknotes seized to be legal tender and in order to meet the situation at that point of time, the government had taken a decision to bring banknotes of Rs.2000 denomination to ensure adequate supply of money to meet the day-to-day requirements of the people.

Upadhyay, in his plea, had said that the RBI notification dated May 19 and the SBI notification dated May 20, which permits exchange of Rs.2000 denomination banknotes without obtaining any requisition slip and identity proof, is arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Upadhyay’s plea had further said that by not insisting any form of identification at the time of exchange of Rs.2000 denomination banknotes to other denomination banknotes, the government is actually encouraging persons who are indulged in benami transactions, money laundering and drug trafficking and therefore, this decision of the government should be struck down by the court.