The Delhi High Court on Monday admitted a plea against demonetisation of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes and will hear the petition on Tuesday.
The petition has been moved by Pooja Mahajan, who runs a showroom here.
Ms. Mahajan has said that since the two notes have been declared as illegal tender, the government cannot direct hospitals and petrol pumps to accept the old notes.
The petitioner has also urged that the new Rs.2,000 note be discontinued.
The petitioner’s counsel pleaded that the matter needed urgent hearing as Ms. Mahajan was facing a problem earning her livelihood and it was an infringement of her fundamental rights.
‘Against the Constitution’
The petitioner urged the court to quash various notifications regarding demonetisation, saying they are in contravention of the Constitution and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act. Section 24 of the RBI Act deals with denomination of notes, which empowers the RBI and the Centre to issue bank notes of various denominations as mentioned in Section 24 (1) and (2) of the Act, the plea said.
“Till date, the government has not issued any notification under Section 24 (2) of the RBI Act for discontinuing currency notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000,” the plea said, adding that the Rs.2,000 notes were being circulated by the government against the mandate of Section 24(1).
The petitioner also alleged that “on the pretext of exchange of notes, the government cannot prosecute and misuse the provisions of the Income Tax Act by treating the cash deposit for exchange as unaccounted money”. A Bench headed by Justice B. D. Ahmed will hear the matter on Tuesday.
