Supreme Court issues notice to govt, RBI on plea alleging deposits of old notes not allowed till March 31

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday, issued notice to the government and Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on plea alleging that people are not being allowed to deposit demonetised currency notes till March 31, 2017 as promised.

SC has fixed the petitions on demonetisation for further hearing on March 10.

"Issue notice returnable by Friday," a bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said and asked petitioner Sharad Mishra to serve the copy of its notice to the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India during the course of the day.

Hundreds visiting the RBI office to exchange old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes are reportedly being turned away saying that the facility is only for NRIs or those who were abroad during the 50-day demonetisation period.

The RBI on November 8 statement said, “Any person who is unable to exchange or deposit the specified banknotes in their bank accounts on or before December 30, 2016 shall be given an opportunity to do so at specified offices of the Reserve Bank or such other facility until a later date as may be specified by the Reserve Bank.”

The central bank on December 31 designated its five offices — Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Nagpur –to exchange defunct currency notes post 50-day demonetisation period that ended on December 30.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation on November 8 had said, “There may be some who for some reason, are not able to deposit their old 500 or 1,000 rupee notes by December 30, 2016.

“They can go to specified offices of the Reserve Bank of India up to March 31, 2017 and deposit the notes after submitting a declaration form.”

With PTI inputs.