Mumbai: Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Sachin Sawant has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court on Thursday against the Reserve Bank of India’s refusal to accept old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes since the start of the year, citing the December 30, 2016 central government ordinance that says that only those people who were travelling abroad will be allowed to exchange old notes.
The petition has alleged that the Union government is guilty of breach of trust and cheating the citizens of the nation, as it was inconsistent with the initial announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley when the demonetisation decision had been issued on November 8.
According to the petition, citizens had been protesting outside the RBI headquarters in New Delhi and its offices in Mumbai against its refusal to accept demonetised notes since January 4. The situation has arisen as the RBI is refusing to accept the old notes based on the December 30 ordinance that states. ‘..the opportunity to exchange the specified bank notes was made available only to Indian citizens who could not previously exchange the currency as they were not present in the country during November 9, 2016 to December 30, 2016.’ The petition claims that this ordinance is contrary to the assurance of the prime minister as well as the notification issued by the RBI to banks.
The petition has alleged that ‘This amounts to a breach of the trust vested in the Prime Minister and the Government authorities by the citizens of India, who are now left without any remedy on account of unsuspectingly placing their faith in the word of honour given by the Prime Minister.’ Alleging bad governance, cheating and violation of the citizens’ rights espoused by article 21 of the Constitution of India, Sawant said, “We have made the Union of India, Ministry of Law and Justice and the Governor of RBI as respondents as their action has inconvenienced the masses.”
