A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court Bench here challenging a notification issued by the Union Finance Ministry on Tuesday scrapping Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes from Wednesday and seeking a consequential direction to the Centre to declare the notes valid until December 31.
M. Seeni Ahamed, State general secretary of Indian National League, filed the case through his counsel S.M.A. Jinnah on the ground that sudden scrapping of high denomination currency notes and several restrictions imposed on bank transactions had caused immense hardship to many uneducated people who did not have bank accounts.
Appreciating the reasons, such as elimination of fake currency notes and black money, cited by by the Centre for scrapping the notes, the petitioner said the government was also duty-bound to implement its decision without causing severe hardship to the common man.
Referring to long queues before ATM centres on Tuesday night, refusal of shops to accept the currency notes, paucity of lower denomination notes in fuel stations to tender change to their customers, inability of people to purchase even basic necessities such as milk and eatables, the petitioner said there was no need to scrap the notes in such urgency.
He also questioned the move to close down ATM centres for two days and stoppage of banking transaction for a day, and said it would have been prudent on the part of the government to make the currency notes valid till the end of the year and provide enough breathing time for the people to make alternative arrangements.
