The Delhi High Court on Wednesday questioned Reserve Bank of India’s decision to put a cap on withdrawals by banking customers using their ATM cards, saying account holders were being “unnecessarily taxed.”
As per RBI’s new guidelines, bank customers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore are allowed to withdraw money free of charge only five times a month and every transaction beyond this limit will be charged Rs. 20 per use.
A division Bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice P.S. Teji issued notice to RBI, Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and State Bank of India while fixing the matter for next hearing on February 18.
“Why are you unnecessarily taxing your own account holders. File your response by next date of hearing,” the Bench said.
The High Court was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Swati Aggarwal, seeking directions to allow banking customers to make unlimited number of transactions free of any charge on own bank ATMs.
According to the plea, the guidelines came into force from November 1 and have already been implemented by several banks, including SBI.
