SC Notice On Plea By Discharged 2013 IPL Spot Fixing Case ‘Bookie’ Seeking Exchange of Seized Old Notes

The Supreme Court today issued notice to the RBI and Ministry of Finance on a petition filed by Abhishek Shukla, discharged by the trial court in 2013 IPL spot-fixing case in July 2015, seeking request to accept demonetised Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes valuing Rs. 5 lakh, which was seized by the special cell of Delhi Police during probe of the case.

The stand of the RBI and Finance Ministry was sought by a bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud.

Shukla’s counsel Manjit Singh Ahluwalia told the bench that his client was exonerated from criminal proceedings by the trial court in July 2015, but the money Rs. 5.5 lakh was released by the court on February 1, 2017.

When Shukla approached the RBI in March, the bank refused to accept the money saying the deadline for deposit had gone by.

Shukla challenged the Central government’s notification of December 30, 2016, not allowing any other category of people, except those who were abroad during demonitisation period (November 8-December 30), to deposit old notes in banks....

In his petition, he sought quashing and setting aside the ordinance dated December 30, 2016, issued by the government saying “it is contrary to the notification dated November 8, 2016, in the wake of demonetisation which has directly affected the petitioner as he was not able to deposit specified bank notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 on or before 30.12.2016.”

It is to be noted that the  Supreme Court had on Tuesday asked the Modi government to tell within two weeks if the people with genuine reasons can be allowed to deposit demonetised currency notes of Rs 500 and 1000. "If one can establish that the money was his or hers, you cant deprive them from depositing the money," a bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud told Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar.