Nagpur: Nearly a decade after demonetisation, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to accept and exchange demonetised currency worth Rs 2 lakh seized from an Akola trader in 2016, ruling that a citizen cannot be penalised for delay by authorities.A division bench comprising Justices Urmila Joshi Phalke and Nivedita Mehta allowed the petition filed by Akola-based businessman, Girish Malani, holding the cash was seized before the December 30, 2016, deadline but returned only after the cut-off date, leaving the petitioner with no opportunity to deposit it. He then challenged RBI’s action through counsel CN Deshpande in the high court.“The specified bank notes were seized prior to the cut-off date prescribed for deposit and were returned to the petitioner thereafter. Since the petitioner has now placed on record the particulars of the said currency notes, we do not find any reason to deny him the benefit of receiving the value thereof in accordance with law,” the bench said.The case stemmed from an incident on Dec 1, 2016, when police intercepted a trader’s vehicle near Mahur during municipal election checks and seized Rs 2 lakh in Rs 500 notes. The amount was later found legitimate by the Income Tax Department and returned on Dec 31, 2016 — a day after the deadline for depositing demonetised currency.Malani approached RBI in Jan 2017 seeking to exchange the notes, but his request was denied on the ground that statutory conditions under Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017, and related rules were not fulfilled.Rejecting a rigid interpretation of rules, the court held the petitioner was deprived of the opportunity to comply due to the authorities’ own actions. “He cannot be placed in a disadvantageous position on account of an act for which he is not responsible,” the bench observed.The court noted although the statutory framework restricts acceptance of demonetised notes, exceptions must be applied in genuine cases where compliance was rendered impossible. It also found the petitioner had submitted serial numbers of the seized notes through an affidavit, addressing a key procedural requirement.Citing earlier rulings in similar cases, the bench said relief cannot be denied where the currency remained in official custody beyond the deadline. It directed the petitioner to submit the notes to RBI within one week and ordered the central bank to verify and credit the equivalent value within eight weeks.
