The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave citizens a reason to cheer after it directed the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider accepting extinguished Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on a case-to-case basis. The Centre and the RBI have been given two weeks to respond, and the matter is likely to be heard again on July 18.
Hearing petitions, the apex court directed the Centre to consider opening a window that would allow people with genuine problems to exchange the scrapped notes.
"You (Centre) cannot be allowed to deprive a person of his money if he couldn't deposit it due to some genuine problem. What if someone is terminally ill and couldn't deposit the money," a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud stated.
The top court's observation rekindled hope for those who were unable to exchange the demonetised currency within the prescribed time limit. The notes were declared void on November 8 last year, and citizens were allowed to exchange the scrapped notes till December 30. The government had further stated that those who missed the December deadline could deposit the notes at select RBI branches till March 31, 2017.
Earlier, the government had stated in the court that it was a conscious decision to not extend the deadline to deposit old notes, except for certain categories of people who were allowed to deposit notes until March end.
However, legal experts say there are doubts over the validity of the order as the judiciary can only interpret the laws, not challenge the legislation itself. These experts believe that the government is on strong ground after the passage of the Specified Bank Notes Bill in February, which ended the liability of these currency denominations between the RBI and the government.
Even if the Supreme Court has its way and the government offers a window for people to deposit their old notes, it could be a tall order for a lot of people. Anyone returning old notes will need to explain why s/he could not do so before the deadline expired on December 30. Towards the end of December, the central bank had issued a circular to banks asking them to accept deposits above Rs 5,000 only once during the remaining period till December 30, 2016. Even if people get an opportunity to convert their old notes, they may have to face questions from the Income Tax department at a later stage.
Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General (SG) Ranjit Kumar said the policy was not individual-centric and that he would seek instructions to consider whether such an opportunity could be given on a case-to-case basis.
The SG's statement was in complete contradiction to that made by former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who had earlier argued that the Centre would not open any window to deposit old notes.
In the last few months, several such cases wherein people were unable to exchange the money within the deadline have come to the fore. Sudha Mishra, who had filed the initial petition in the SC, had stated that she got married early in 2016 and gave birth to twin girls in November the same year. At the time of the delivery, she was at her parents' house in Ranchi, Jharkhand. As a result, she was unable to deposit some cash that she had received as gift during her wedding.
Another petitioner, Sarla Shrivastava, 71, lost her husband in April, 2016. When demonetisation was announced, she searched her house and found Rs 190,000. In January, 2017, however, while going through her husband's possessions, she came across Rs 179,500 more that he had squirrelled away, and which now needs to be exchanged.
- Supreme Court
- Reserve Bank of India
- Income Tax Department
- JS Khehar
- DY Chandrachud
- Mukul Rohatgi
- Ranjit Kumar
- demonetization
- currency
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