The Division Bench of the Bombay High Court, comprising Justices G.S. Patel & Madhav J. Jamdar in the case of Kishor Ramesh Sohon v. Union of India & Ors has ordered the Reserve Bank of India to replace the Petitioner’s old valued money to new currency which was issued by the RBI after demonetization.
Background of the Case
The Petitioner filed a criminal case in which Judicial Magistrate directed the accused to deposit Rs 1,60,000/- cash with the police station. The matter rested there until 20th March 2017. Because of the demonetization in 2016, his cash was with an authority it was protected from demonetisation. Then there was Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown after March 2020. When the Petitioner finally went back to the police station for return of his money, he was handed the old currency notes.
Aggrieved by which, the Petitioner seeks direction to the RBI to replace the old currency notes since they were all along in custody of the police with valid current tender.
Reasoning and Decision of the Court
The Court made a perusal of the notification issued by the RBI and observed that “it permits a replacement but provided it meets certain conditions: the serial numbers of notes are to be mentioned and so on. All of this Petitioner is willing and able to do, but what is missing — and the only thing that is missing — is an order of a Court directing the RBI to make that replacement”.
Considering all the facts, the Court exercises its equitable discretionary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to direct the RBI by this order to replace the currency tendered by the Petitioner with current valid tender, subject to the Petitioner complying with other requirements such as mentioning serial numbers etc.
Therefore, the Court disposed of the petition and granted liberty to the Petitioner to apply in case of any further difficulty.
Case Details
Case: - WRIT PETITION NO. 8017 OF 2021
Petitioner: - Kishor Ramesh Sohoni
Respondent: - Union of India & Ors
Judge: Justices G.S. Patel & Madhav J. Jamdar
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