Exchange of Rs 2,000 notes: Apex Court refuses urgent hearing on plea challenging RBI decision

Supreme Court of India

On Friday, the Supreme Court on Friday refused urgent hearing on a plea challenging the notifications enabling exchange of Rs 2,000 currency notes without any requisition slip and ID proof, the news agency PTI reported.

A vacation bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal perused the report filed by the registry, and said there is no urgency in the matter. The top court directed that the matter be placed before Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud after summer vacations.

The petitioner advocate Ashwini Upadhyay submitted that it was very unfortunate that the top court is not taking up such an important matter.

The apex court said this is a court and not a public platform and the matter has to end somewhere. This is second time that the apex court has refused an urgent hearing on the issue.

On June 1, the top court had refused to list for urgent hearing Upadhyay's plea challenging the notifications and said it would not be taking up such pleas during the summer break.

The lawyer had earlier submitted that Rs 2,000 banknotes were being exchanged by criminals and terrorists without any requisition slip and ID proof such as Aadhaar.

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said about 50 per cent of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation has come back in the banking system since the RBI announced withdrawal of the highest denomination currency last month. As on March 31, 2023, he said, Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 3.62 lakh crore were in circulation.

"So far, Rs 1.80 lakh crore have come back after the announcement," he said during an interaction with media after releasing the bi-monthly monetary policy here.
About 85 per cent of Rs 2,000 notes are coming as deposits in bank accounts and this is in line with expectation, he said.

On May 19, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes as part of its currency management and permitted the exchange of such notes (up to Rs 20,000 in one go) from May 23 onwards. The exchange or deposit window is available till September 30, 2023.

(With PTI inputs)