Supreme Court Grants Last Opportunity To Centre To File Response On PIL Seeking CBI Probe In RBI Exchanging Defaced Currency Notes

The Supreme Court has today granted a last opportunity to the Centre to file its response on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking investigation by CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) into the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) exchanging defaced currency notes worth Rs. 30 crores.

It was alleged that the said notes belonged to a Kashmiri separatist group.

The two-Judge Bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said that enough time had been given to the Union of India to file its reply and hence it granted four more weeks "in the interest of justice".

The Bench was hearing a PIL filed by Satish Bhardwaj, who alleged that in 2013 the Jammu branch of RBI exchanged the currency notes amounting to Rs. 30 crores allegedly belonging to a separatist group called "Kashmir Graffitti".

"The act of the Jammu branch of Reserve Bank of India to exchange the defaced/imperfect Indian currency notes worth Rs 30 crore -- that too done by a separatist group of Kashmir with the main aim of destabilising peace and harmony in the region of Jammu and Kashmir and to create an environment of tension and terror in the minds of common residents of the region -- is illegal and worth the interference of this court", the PIL read.

It was stated that a separatist group in Kashmir in its statement on Facebook platform claimed to have stamped separatist slogans on Indian currency worth Rs. 30 crores between May and August in 2013.

Therefore, the Petitioner sought a Court-monitored CBI investigation in the case. He argued that exchange of currency notes can only be done according to law and no deliberately stamped currency be exchanged as per the rules and regulations of RBI.

With PTI Inputs