New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea challenging the RBI circular allowing the exchange of 2000 rupee notes without ID proof, citing it as “an area of the executive governance.” A  bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha refused the appeal filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay.

“Allowing exchange of Rs 2000 currency notes is matter of executive policy decision,” said the apex court.

Lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay argued that the notifications by the RBI and SBI which enabled the exchange of Rs 2,000 banknotes without proof were arbitrary, enhance corruption and offend Article 14 of the constitution of India, which guarantees the right to equality before the law.

The basis of Upadhyay’s arguments was that the decision to allow the exchange of Rs 2,000 bank notes without proof of identity is whimsical as it does not ask or check the circumstances of each individual.

PIL filed for Rs 2,000 banknotes

Previously this month, the Delhi High Court had also dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the apex bank’s decision in relation to the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 banknotes.

Petitioner Rajneesh Bhaskar Gupta said that the Reserve Bank of India holds no power to withdraw Rs 2,000 denominations from circulation and only the Centre could have taken a decision like this.

Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad reserved their order on the PIL on May 30 after hearing the case.

Adding further, the High Court reasoned that the decision taken was in consideration of the citizens to remove their inconvenience and that it cannot sit as an appellate authority on a policy decision.

(Written by – Mahek Nigam

Edited By – Prateek Gautam)