SC wants Modi Government to give genuine individuals more time to deposit old notes

The Supreme Court of India wants Modi Government and Reserve Bank of India to give more time to genuine individuals to exchange the scrapped high-value currencies and asked them to inform within two weeks if a window could be opened for them.

A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Kehar and Justice and DY Chandrachud wanted to know from the Government why did it bar all people from depositing the old 500 and 100-rupee notes beyond December 30, 2016 after demonetisation was announced in early November as there could be many people who could not comply with the Government order under compelling situation during that period.

“There can be a situation where a person has lost his/her money for no fault. Suppose a person was in jail during the period. We want to know as to why you chose to bar such persons,” the court said.

Earlier this year, the Centre had informed the Supreme Court that it has taken a ‘conscious decision’ not to extend the period beyond December 30, 2016  for exchanging the scrapped currency notes.

It had said it was not legally bound to come out with a fresh notification to grant grace period or window for depositing scrapped currency notes.

The top court makes the move in response to petitions filed by  private individuals and a firm seeking a window like those given to NRIs and people who were abroad during the period of demonetisation to deposit the scrapped currency notes with the Reserve Bank of India.