Allow People with Genuine Reasons to Deposit Banned Notes, SC Tells Govt

NEW DELHI:
The Supreme Court asked the Centre and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to provide an opportunity for people who were unable to submit demonetised bank notes before the December 30, 2016 deadline.
“If someone has a genuine reason, you cannot deny him the opportunity to deposit the money,” a bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar told solicitor general Ranjit Kumar who took two weeks to come back with the government’s response.
“RBI could probably hear on case-to-case basis and not identify a class,” Kumar said. “You cannot take away someone’s property. If it’s my money and I can establish that, then you cannot deprive me of my property,” Chief Justice Khehar said while hearing petitions challenging the government’s notification that disallowed citizens from depositing old notes.
Several cases of people finding stashed away demonetised notes have come to light since the RBI deadline passed, including two orphans in Madhya Pradesh who sought the PM’s help in exchanging Rs 96,500 they discovered at their parents’ home.
“We are also hearing only genuine cases where we are satisfied deposit cannot be done because there is no window,” the Chief Justice said.
In his November 8 speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that those facing genuine difficulty in depositing demonetised notes by December 30 would get a chance to deposit them till March 31.
The apex court said this gave hope to those who missed the deadline.
The court had earlier pulled up the government for providing inadequate options to people for getting rid of old notes. The demonetisation notification had in one go scrapped 86% of the currency in circulation, resulting in a cash crunch that lasted more than two months.
Long queues at ATMs became a common sight given that in the initial weeks, people were allowed to withdraw just Rs 2000 per day.
For Indians and NRIs who were abroad during November-December, the government allowed deposits till March 31. However, NRIs needed to produce a Customs certificate certifying the amount of the demonetised notes brought into the country when depositing them at the RBI.