S.Venkatesan v. The Regional Director Of Tamil
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 03.12.2019
CORAM:
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE ABDUL QUDDHOSE W.P.No.9736 of 2017 S.Venkatesan .. Petitioner Vs.
The Regional Director of Tamilnadu Reserve Bank of India, South Zone Office, No.16, Rajaji Salai, Chennai - 600 001.
.. Respondent PRAYER: Writ Petition filed Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking for issuance of writ of mandamus to direct the respondent to exchange the Old Currency Notes as per petitioner's representation dated 15.03.2017 within time frame.
For Petitioner : Mr.K.Sudhakar For Respondent : Mr.C.Mohan For M/s.King and Partridge
ORDER
This writ petition has been filed for a mandamus to direct the respondent to exchange old currency notes as per his representation dated 13.03.2017 within the stipulated time.
2.
The case of the petitioner is that the currency notes belonging to him were stolen and he lodged a complaint and the same was registered as Crime No.273 of 2013 before the Sunguvarchatiram Police Station. The police officials conducted the investigation and filed a final report under Sections 379 and 414 of IPC. The accused person contested the case and after trial, the District Munsif cum Judicial Magistrate at Sriperumbudur had acquitted the accused for the said charges vide judgment dated 29.12.2016. As per the said judgment, the case properties namely Lorry engine, Radiator and cash of Rs.1,40,000/- were directed to be returned to the petitioner. The petitioner filed CMP.No.169 of 2017 in C.C.No.60 of 2015 on the file of the District Judicial Magistrate, Sriperumbudur seeking return of the above said amount and other goods. After enquiry, the learned District Munsif cum Judicial Magistrate, Sriperumbudur allowed the
petitioner's application on 15.02.2017. Accordingly, the petitioner received a sum of Rs.1,40,000/- (old currency notes) from the court of District Munsif cum Judicial Magistrate, Sriperumbudur.
3.
It is also the case of the petitioner that when he went to the respondent office with a request to exchange the old currency notes (Rs.1000/- and Rs.500/-), the respondent refused to exchange the old currency notes due to demonetisation and lack of rules regulating the exchange of old currency notes.
4.
The learned counsel for the respondent drew the attention of this Court to the Specified Bank Notes (Deposit of Confiscated Notes) Rules 2017 which were framed subsequent to the demonetisation which came into effect from 12.05.2017. According to the respondent, when the petitioner approached the respondent, the above referred rules were not in existence and therefore, the respondent was not in a position to exchange the old currency notes of the petitioner. Since the rules have now been framed, the respondent is willing to exchange the old currency notes of the petitioner subject to the fulfilment of the conditions mentioned in the said rules as well as the operational instructions of the Reserve Bank of India.
5.
The learned counsel for the respondent also drew the attention of this Court to the order passed in an identical matter in W.P.No.5441 of 2018 by order dated 05.02.2019 and the judgment dated 23.03.2018 passed in W.A.Nos.409 and 445 of 2018, wherein this Court had directed the petitioner therein to exchange the old currency notes by fulfilling the conditions imposed in the Specified Bank Notes (Deposit of Confiscated Notes) Rules 2017 and the operational instructions of the Reserve Bank of India dated 25.05.2017. 6.
The operational instructions of the Reserve Bank of India dated 25.05.2017 are extracted hereunder: "3. The operational procedures for the above shall be as under :
(1) Documents and scrutiny thereof i. An application (containing details of court order, serial number and denominational details of SBNs, bank account details, etc.) shall be obtained from the tenderer.
ii. On receipt of tender, the original court order shall be scrutinized and authenticity of the same shall be confirmed from the court/law enforcement agency concerned.
iii. Identification of the person authorized to tender SBNs, shall be checked with any valid identity proof.
iv. Verification of documents with regard to
serial numbers of the SBNs, as specified in para (2)-(a) and (c) shall be carried out.
v. In case of eligible individuals, PAN card, Form 16 in Original shall be seen.
vi. Self certified copies of all the above documents shall be obtained and on satisfactory verification with the originals, the copies shall be stamped as seen and initialed by the scrutinizing official."
7.
The petitioner has furnished the details of the currency notes with serial numbers in the typed set of papers which is detailed hereunder:
Rs.1,000 x 100 = Rs.1,00,000/- Denomination Details Sl .N o.
Number Sl.
No.
Number Sl.
No.
Number Sl .N o.
Number 5AN573649 0CN117363 2AM805065 3BB009868 5CD105158 3AF924319 2BU950433 3BB009870 1FC969909 9DU864213 2AF692140 1BD486298 7AU960794 7BL266644 5CB019517 5AV408339 5DL278108 6DS758199 8AN568669 8AE994731 8AM505352 5DK973505 9AQ884887 9HA696622 4AG880248 8CF971056 6AF626157 1BV183461 4BP806795 1AL504705 9DB353206 0CE549073 2CT402963 0BR527840 4CR660935 3CT642583 2DD611803 5CH507300 6BQ534197 5DR052495 5BH309798 6DW258767 8BF809256 5BM986067 8BF681454 3DC883946 7AT110858 4EE000624 4GB369588 1CC743482 1EA807036 7BU589086 9DH110289 6CT339654 4CD077156 2CH009814 5AH249823 4EA428937 2BA105994 2AH938963 8AN523720 2BD205449 9DU560548 5AV302730 0CP287206 8BH614149 2BT128547 9CS731284 4CN526026 5EC069736 2CA836169 1BR861481 8GP278904 9CM298340 7BG953767 5AU765739 8DN019373 5CF395345 2DP410241 9DQ202231 7CT260169 2DL721481 9CM841944 0AS197166 0AQ473578 6AP154875 0CV624356 0AS197167 4GP787287 5BQ186964 5AG802485 1CF017127 2BE647753 3DH300921 2BR749604 3CD375571 1DG926205 1CA757126 3DH148971 8BA391312
Rs.500 x 80 = Rs.40,000/- Denomination Details Sl .N o.
Number Sl.
No.
Number Sl.
No.
Number Sl .N o.
Number 0QD380075 7AW267207 7RT180366 6HM576987 3DH152729 2BC563833 9NH749645 1BB833509 2CB506442 8GK012168 3NS543478 0HP844148 6EF678817 7EN388259 5QR281023 6CA967217 4CA840988 2AL306715 8DA593117 9BW610746 4CA840989 7FS364324 2PM949869 1000 x 100 = 1,00,000/- 500 x 80 = 40,000/- Total = 1,40,000/- 7DL661252 7AF603566 8LB433168 3BH835380 5GW313080 4GN645762 4BH704709 6BG380968 7AF731028 8RG710887 8AP217751 3AL375133 3MM088749 5TB783782 7CL229492 0CM939384 0DC542707 7BH120724 0SH557198 9KA046844 6LP016754 8ES277165 1DC476220 9FB210976 9FP772379 7SG437690 3DM242737 2AL929757 1TQ174760 3MS446963 7FP195109 4FR674307 1MB465307 0AQ981946 0CB419902 4QU234398 5HR514439 9CW491917 4GA607485 1BU481887 6DT130691 8CE819283 9RG238934 3FS029606 3BB523054 3CK118377 1KD896305 2FM999620 5FS393523 3BH897950 0CA693276 9CF333737 3CF563598 8ND243612 5KM195554 9TG324326 6RL758506 8.
For the foregoing reasons, this Court directs the respondent to exchange the old currency notes of the petitioner as per the aforesaid list within a period of four weeks from the date of submission of currency notes by the petitioner along with the certified copy of this order, subject to the fulfilment of the conditions under the Specified Bank Notes (Deposit of Confiscated Notes) Rules 2017 and the operational instructions of the Reserve Bank of India.
9.
With the aforesaid directions, this writ petition is disposed of. No costs.
Sd/- Assistant Registrar(CS) //True Copy// Sub Assistant Registrar nl To The Regional Director of Tamilnadu Reserve Bank of India, South Zone Office, No.16, Rajaji Salai, Chennai - 600 001.
+1cc to M/s.King and Partridge , Advocate SR.No. 100782 +1cc to Mr.K.Sudhakar , Advocate SR.No. 101135 W.P.No.9736 of 2017 A.SK(11/12/2019)