Centre lied about expiry of cap on cash withdrawal, High Court told

An application was moved in the High Court on Tuesday accusing the Centre of making a false statement before the court that the restriction for cash withdrawal of Rs.24,000 by individuals was only till November 24 when in fact it was extended till December 30.

A Bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal was told that the Centre’s notification of November 8, on the weekly withdrawal limit from the banks was modified on November 14 by which the date of expiry of the cap has been removed.

‘Extended till Dec 30’

“By virtue of the November 14 notification, the government has made Clause 2(vi) applicable till December 30, 2016,” the application by petitioner Ashok Sharma contended.

Mr. Sharma had earlier moved a petition in the court seeking removal of withdrawal limit on amount deposited in the banks prior to November 8.

In his application on Tuesday, Mr. Sharma said that the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) gave a wrong impression that Clause 2(vi) of the notification expired on November 24.

Based on the ASG’s submission, the court on November 25 had rejected Mr. Sharma’s plea on the ground that the limit fixed on cash withdrawal has come to an end on November 24 midnight.

Urging the court to recall its order, the petitioner said: “The government has not come out before this court with clean hands and it seems that a deliberately misleading, false and incorrect statement has been made.”

The court has listed the application for hearing on Wednesday.

The petitioner, who claims that his business was suffering, had moved the court seeking direction to the Centre to remove the cap on daily withdrawal of money deposited by the public in banks before demonetisation of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 currency notes.

The court, however, refused to go into the merit of the petition and had said the Supreme Court was seized of the issue related to the validity of the Centre's notification.