Replace man’s demonetised notes worth Rs 1.6 lakh: Bombay HC to RBI – Times of India

MUMBAI: In a relief to a Dombivli resident, the Bombay High Court has directed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to replace his demonetised notes worth Rs 1.6 lakh with new and valid currency notes.
The direction by Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar on Tuesday came on a petition by Kishor Sohoni. In a case of cheating where Sohoni was the complainant, a Kalyan magistrate in March 2016 had directed the accused to deposit Rs 1.6 lakh with the local Ramnagar police station. The Centre announced demonetisation on November 8, 2016. Despite Sohoni requesting the magistrate to pass an order to permit him to collect the money before the December 31, 2016 deadline for exchange of old notes, she passed it only on March 20, 2017.
Sohoni’s petition said he did not hurry to collect the money. Then followed the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown after March 2020. In October 2020 when he finally went to the police station to take his money back, he was handed the “banned Rs 1,000 notes.” He described every note as “just a piece of paper having a photo of Mahatma Gandhi.” He wrote to the RBI in vain and then moved the HC.
Sohoni’s advocate, Sadhna Singh, said her client believed that as the cash was with the police authorities, it was protected from demonetisation.
RBI’s advocate Aditi Phatak referred to the Finance Ministry’s May 12, 2017 notification which said that in case confiscated specified bank notes are returned by the court, the person is entitled to deposit or exchange them on production of the court order. Noting that the JMFC’s March 2017 order “did not contain a direction to RBI to replace the demonetised currency with the current valid tender”, the judges directed the RBI to do so.