Supreme Court refuses urgent listing of plea challenging RBI decision on INR 2,000 banknote exchange

NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to list for urgent hearing a plea challenging the notifications enabling exchange of INR 2,000 denomination currency notes without any requisition slip and ID proof.

A vacation bench of justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K V Vishwanathan took note of the submissions for urgent hearing of lawyer Ashwini Updhyay, and said it will not be taking up such pleas during the summer vacation.

“We are not taking up these kinds of cases during the summer vacation,” the bench said, adding the plea can be mentioned before a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India.

Seeking urgent listing of the plea, the lawyer said the INR 2000 banknotes are being exchanged without any requisition slip and ID proof like Aadhaar card by criminals and terrorists also.

In a short span of time, INR 50,000 crore have been exchanged in banks by returning banknotes of INR 2000 denomination, he claimed, adding the delay in hearing would lead to exchange of all black monies in banks.

Updhyay has filed an appeal in the top court against the May 29 decision of the Delhi High Court dismissing his PIL challenging the notifications by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the State Bank of India (SBI) allowing exchange of INR 2,000 banknotes without having to furnish any document.

On May 19, the RBI had announced withdrawal of INR 2,000 currency notes from circulation, and said existing notes in circulation can either be deposited in bank accounts or exchanged by September 30.

The bank notes in INR 2,000 denomination will, however, continue to be a legal tender, the RBI had said in a statement.

In order to ensure operational convenience and to avoid disruption of regular activities of bank branches, the RBI said exchange of INR 2,000 notes into bank notes of other denominations can be made up to a limit of INR 20,000 at a time at any bank starting from May 23.