HC rejects PIL challenging easy exchange of Rs 2,000 notes

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a PIL challenging the validity of the Reserve Bank of India's May 19 notification that permitted exchange of ₹2,000 currency notes at banks without any requisition or identity slips.

It said the government's decision is "purely a policy decision and courts should not sit as an appellate authority" over its decisions.

A bench of Chief Justice Subhash Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad rejected the plea by lawyer-activist Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, saying "the present PIL is devoid of merits".

The government has given a window of four months to the citizens to exchange₹ 2,000 denomination banknotes without any kind of identification.

Banknotes of ₹2,000 shall continue to be a legal tender till September. "Therefore, it cannot be said that the decision of the government is perverse or arbitrary or it encourages black money, money laundering, profiteering, or it abets corruption," the bench said.

Upadhyay wanted the HC to declare the notification as arbitrary, saying the RBI and State Bank of India must ensure that the ₹2,000 notes are deposited only in the bank account of the person exchanging them so that people having black money can be easily identified.