Supreme Court Gives Union Final Opportunity To File Reply In PIL Alleging Exchange Of Currency Defaced By Kashmiri Separatists At RBI Branch

Expressing that the Union is not taking the matter seriously, the Supreme Court today granted final opportunity to the Union of India to respond to a public interest litigation seeking CBI enquiry into the Jammu Regional Branch of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) where defaced Indian currencies worth Rs.30 crores were allegedly exchanged by a separatist group in 2013.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order, stating,

"Learned counsel for Union of India seeks more time to file the counter-affidavit. Ample time has already been granted. However, in the interest of justice, one more but last opportunity is given to do the needful within 4 weeks. No further time shall be granted."

During the hearing, when the counsel for Union of India sought last opportunity to file the counter and apologized for seeking time once again, Justice Kant commented, "You are taking so much time, and then...you people are not taking things seriously".

It is worthwhile to mention that time to file reply was first given to the Union on March 6, 2020, when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought 2 weeks for the purpose. Thereafter, the matter came up on July 10, 2024, on which date neither any reply on behalf of the Union was found on record nor anyone appeared for it. Accordingly, the Court directed the Registry to inform SG Mehta to ensure that the requisite affidavit was filed within 4 weeks.

Subsequently, on August 20, ASG KM Nataraj entered appearance for the Union and sought 4 weeks' time to file the reply, or a status report based on compilation of information received from different agencies. Between then and today, the reply not having been filed by Union, the Court expressed its concern.

To recap, petitioner-Satish Bhardwaj filed the present petition in 2019, alleging that a Kashmiri separatist group named "Kashmir Graffiti" defaced and stamped anti-India slogans on Indian currencies and posted them on its social networking sites. Subsequently, the defaced bank notes, worth Rs 30 crores, were allowed to be exchanged by an RBI branch in Jammu Region.

According to the plea, the RBI Act and the RBI (Note Refund) Rules 2009 did not allow the bank to exchange defaced notes. The petitioner initially sought a response from authorities but to no avail.

As RBI failed to reply to his RTI queries, and CBI failed to act upon his representation, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe against RBI for allowing the notes to be exchanged. In his petition, he stated,

"The act of Jammu Regional Branch office of RBI to exchange the defaced/imperfect Indian currency notes worth Rs 30 crore, that too which was done by a separatist group of Kashmir with a main aim of destabilizing peace and harmony in the region of J&K and to create an environment of tension and terror in the minds of common residents of the region is illegal and worthy of interference of this court."

When the matter came up in 2020, a bench comprising then Chief Justice SA Bobde as well as Justices BR Gavai and Kant expressed that it involved "national interest" and asked SG Mehta to seek instructions.

Case Title: SATISH BHARDWAJ Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(Crl.) No. 249/2019

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