PIL to exchange Rs. 2000 currency notes listed for June 09, 2023; Supreme Court seeks report from Registry

On June 07, 2023, a vacation bench of the Supreme Court sought a report from its registry regarding the issue of urgent listing of a plea challenging the notifications of the State Bank of India and Reserve Bank of India. The notification permitted the exchange of Rupees 2000 banknotes without the requirement of any identity proof. Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay filed the plea before the Delhi High Court which dismissed his PIL to exchange Rs. 2000 currency notes only with identity proof. Further, Advocate Upadhyay mentioned the matter before the Supreme Court vacation bench including Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Aniruddha Bose for urgent listing. During the Court proceeding, Justice Bose asked Advocate Upadhyay “Was this mentioned earlier?” To this, Advocate Upadhyaya responded affirmatively, “Yes, but there were many defects at that time, we have cured the defects now…” Earlier, the matter was mentioned before the top Court for urgent listing on June 01 but the bench refused to entertain the plea and said that the vacation bench would not take such pleas during the summer vacation.

While hearing the matter on June 07, the bench said that “We cannot go by media reports. You mention on Friday (June 09, 2023), meanwhile, let us see the registry report.” The apex Court further asked Upadhaya, “The direction was given that it should be mentioned after the court reopens. How can you mention again? A coordinate bench already said to mention after the court reopens…You cannot come to a different bench…” Advocate Upadhyay highlighted the urgency of the matter, “The problem is that money is being hoarded by gangsters. Maosists, Terrorists, and separatists are exchanging money. There are media reports saying 80,000 crores exchanged…Only observation was how can you mention when it is just filed…” After hearing the submissions, the bench again stated that “We’ll seek a report from registry on this. We’ll grant you liberty to mention this on Friday.”

The plea stated that “Recently, it was announced by the Centre that every family has AADHAAR Card and Bank Account. Therefore, why RBI is permitting to exchange Rs.2000 banknotes without obtaining identity proof. It is also necessary to state that 80 Crore BPL families receive free grains. It means 80 crore Indians rarely use Rs. 2000 banknotes. Therefore, the petitioner also seeks direction from RBI and SBI to ensure that Rs. 2000 currency notes are deposited in a bank account only.” It was further determined that if the money is deposited only in RBI and SBI banks then it would be easier to highlight those people having black money and disappropriate assets. The decision to withdraw Rs. 2000 notes were announced by RBI via circulation and noted that “In order to ensure operational convenience and to avoid disruption of regular activities of bank branches, exchange of Rs. 2000 banknotes into banknotes of other denominations can be made upto a limit of Rs. 20,000 at a time at any bank starting from May 23, 2023.”