The Supreme Court of India issued a notice to the Union of India on March 6 asking why people can not deposit old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 till March 31, 2017. A Bench of Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice S.K. Kaul gave the government time till March 10 to respond to the petitions filled by the individuals on the rollback of the last date to submit demonetised notes.
The apex court has also issued notices to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on a plea which alleged that people are not being allowed to deposit demonetised currency notes till March 31. The RBI had set December 31 as the deadline to deposit and exchange the notes.
A plea has been filed in Supreme Court seeking that people are not being allowed to deposit demonetised notes till March 31, 2017 as promised. Responding to the petition, the SC said, “It is submitted that petitioner had genuine reasons and yet no attention was paid to his requests.”
The pleas contended that the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, promulgated on December 13, 2016, penalised those who deposited demonetised money after December 31, 2016.
People had been swarming outside the RBI office to exchange their defunct currency notes. When they were not allowed to do so, they argued that the central bank had announced that it would accept the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes even after December 31.
Meanwhile, the RBI clearly states that the “grace period” till March 31 shall only be provided to the NRIs and Indian citizens who were outside India “between November 9 and December 30, 2016”. “The Specified Bank Notes can be deposited at five RBI Offices (Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Nagpur),” a notification released by the RBI read.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on November 8 might have led to the confusion in which he suggested that the December 31 deadline for the exchange of currency might be extended.
