A Maharashtra court has ordered the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to exchange old notes worth ₹20 lakh, eight years after demonetisation. Following a Bombay High Court ruling, old ₹500 notes seized by the Income Tax Department during demonetisation will now be exchanged.
The Bombay High Court recently directed the RBI to exchange the seized old notes belonging to eight individuals from Kolhapur with new currency. This decision provides significant relief to the eight petitioners after eight years.
Ramesh Potdar and seven others from Kolhapur filed a petition in the High Court in 2017. A division bench of Justices Atul Chandurkar and Milind Sathe, while deciding on this petition, ordered the Reserve Bank to exchange the demonetised ₹500 notes for new currency by 12 March 2025.
On 8 November 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation. Subsequently, the Reserve Bank allowed the deposit of old notes in banks until 30 December 2016. However, just four days before this deadline, on 26 December 2016, the Income Tax department raided the Potdar family’s home and seized ₹20 lakh worth of old ₹500 notes.
Later, the Income Tax department summoned the Potdar family for questioning and recorded their statements. After the investigation, on 10 January 2017, the department informed the Shahuwadi police that the notes would not be confiscated. Following this, on 14 January 2017, the police informed the Potdar family.
Reserve Bank’s Refusal
After receiving the money back, when the Potdar family went to the Mumbai RBI office on 17 January 2017 and requested the exchange of their old notes, the top bank officials refused, as the deadline for exchanging notes had passed. The Potdar family was forced to approach the High Court.
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