Customers form queues inside a post office in Hyderabad on Friday. AFP photo

New Delhi, November 18The Supreme Court on Friday dubbed as a “serious issue” the long queues outside banks and post offices and expressed its reservation on the Centre’s plea seeking a direction that no other court in the country should entertain petitions challenging the November 8 notification demonetising Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes.“It is a serious issue which requires consideration,” a bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice AR Dave said, while asking the parties to be ready with data and other issues in writing.“Some measures are required. See the kind of problems people are facing. People have to go to the high court. If we shut them from going to the high court, how can we know the magnitude of the problem? People going to different courts indicates the magnitude of the problem,” the bench said.It made the remarks as Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi submitted that any matter relating to challenge to the demonetisation issue be heard only by the apex court.However, the bench said, “People are affected. People are frantic. People have the right to approach the courts,” noting that there are difficulties and “can you (the Centre) dispute”.The AG said there was no dispute, but the queues were getting shorter and even suggested that the CJI could go out during lunch and himself look at the queue.“Kindly go in the lunch time,” the AG told the bench and took objection to senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for a private party for allegedly exaggerating the situation.“It’s a political attempt in the court. I have seen your (Sibal’s) press conference also. You are not appearing for a political party, but for an advocate. You are turning the apex court into a political platform,” Rohatgi said.At the outset, the bench questioned the relief measures undertaken by the Centre saying, “Last time, you said there would be relief for people in the coming days but you have squeezed the exchange limit to Rs 2,000 only. What is the difficulty?” the bench asked Rohatgi.The AG explained the situation by stating that after printing, the currency had to be moved to thousands of centres across the country and ATMs had to be re-calibrated. “There is no shortage of funds,” he said.To questions from the bench, the AG said Rs 100 notes are in circulation and the ATMs needed to be re-calibrated to issue new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000.He also elaborated on the steps taken by the government to meet the situation by stating that besides reducing the exchange limit, farmers had been allowed to withdraw Rs 50,000 and people having weddings at home could withdraw Rs 2.5 lakh.“At a petrol pump, which has a card-swipe machine of the SBI, people can go and withdraw money up to Rs 2,000. We have been monitoring the situation day by day,” Rohatgi said, adding that the idea was to push the new notes of Rs 2,000 as one note of Rs 2,000 is equal to 20 notes of Rs 100.At this point, Sibal interrupted saying the problem is of printing as they needed to print Rs 23 lakh crore, but they did not have the capacity to do that.“Already they have frozen Rs 14,000 crore and it is not clear under which law they have done so,” he said, contending that it is a serious situation where people could not withdraw their own taxed money.“They are trustee, how can they not let us withdraw our legitimate money,” he said, adding that “the situation has turned from bad to worse”.Sibal said the government was not concerned about the people living in remote areas of the north-east, Himachal Pradesh and Naxal-hit district of Bastar where people had to walk for 20 km to reach an ATM.While the Congress leader was making the submission pointing out the deficiencies and the steps taken by the Centre, the AG said, “We need not give any explanation as right now it is the interim application that has to be heard.”Realising that the bench had reservation in entertaining the Centre’s application, Rohatgi said, “We will file a transfer petition.”The matter will be heard again on November 25.

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The Centre has moved the apex court seeking a stay on the proceedings before various high courts and other courts except the apex court against demonetisation issue, saying otherwise it would create a lot of confusion.The apex court had on November 15 refused to stay the government’s demonetisation notification, but asked it to spell out the steps taken to minimise public inconvenience.Out of the four PILs in the apex court on the demonetisation issue, two were filed by Delhi-based lawyers Vivek Narayan Sharma and Sangam Lal Pandey, while two others were filed by individuals, S Muthukumar and Adil Alvi.The petitioners have alleged that the sudden decision has created chaos and harassment to the public at large and the notification of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, be either quashed or deferred for some time.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address to the nation on November 8, had announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would no longer be legal tender from November 9.He had said that the government had declared a “decisive war” against black money and corruption. PTI

 

Say sorry for 55 deaths: Cong to PM

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 18

The Congress today blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move for the death of 55 persons across the country seeking his apology for the same.Attacking the PM for taking a “dictatorial decision”, Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “The dictatorial decision of PM Modi has led to these deaths. Who will take responsibility? The PM must apologise. The whole country is suffering because of the eccentricity of one man. People are standing in queues and have died trying to withdraw money for their wards’ weddings.”The Congress also asked for old currency to be permitted for agricultural purchases besides permission to cooperative banks in rural areas to exchange old currency.Noting that the government had changed its rules on the decision 18 times since its announcement on November 8, Surjewala said it would take many months to replenish the cash in the economy.He argued that firms printing Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes in India do not have adequate capacity to print new currency in a short period. Surjewala asked the government whether or not it would take months to replace 86 per cent currency that stands withdrawn after demonetisation.“Country’s agricultural economy has been shattered. All cooperative, land development banks, land cooperative societies have been left out of the ambit of banks allowed to exchange currency. The Agriculture Minister asked for old notes to be allowed for farm purchases, but a “tuglaqi” PM trashed this suggestion,” Surjewala added.

Surjewala defends Azad

• Randeep Surjewala (pic) on Friday defended Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad who, on Thursday, spoke in one breath about the killing of 20 soldiers in the Uri terror attack and alleged deaths in India due to cash crunch
• “There is no question of defending anyone. He only said what was correct. What did he say? In Uri, 20 jawans died defending the nation, but one autocratic decision of the PM has led to 55 deaths. We are proud of our soldiers, but what about those who are dying due to PM’s decision? If anyone asks questions they say you are anti-national,” Surjewala said

Psychiatrists:Cash crunch affecting mental health

Kolkata, November 18

The government’s demonetisation decision is taking a toll on the mental health of many cash-strapped businessmen in rural areas of West Bengal whose entire sales are in cash.Within a couple of days of the announcement, a potato wholeseller started having panic attacks since he has about Rs50 to Rs60 lakh of the perishable agriculture produce lying in cold storage.He buys potato on credit in bulk and sells it in cash to smaller traders but now, as a result of cash crunch, there are no buyers. “The wholeseller fears that his entire stock will go waste, incurring him a huge loss. He was suffering from panic and anxiety attacks and thought he will die,” senior consultant psychiatrist Sanjay Garg said.According to psychiatrists, they have been getting a significant number of patients suffering from mental stress after the Centre’s move to demonetise Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes. Garg said most of such patients are from middle and upper-middle class families from rural Bengal where the reach of plastic money is limited.Another psychiatrist Santasree Gupta said one of her patients was a 50-year-old widow who inherited Rs30 lakh in cash savings from her deceased husband. “She had plans to buy a flat and spend the rest of the amount on her son’s marriage. And now she feels very insecure. She had to be put on medication to control the stress,” Gupta added. — PTI

32 fake Rs2,000 notes found in Assam

Tribune News Service

Guwahati, November 18

Thirty-two fake currency notes of Rs2,000 denomination were today recovered from a woman at Simaluguri in Lakhimpur district of north-eastern Assam.The police have seized the fake Rs2,000 notes which bore the same serial number and picked up the woman for questioning. The woman claimed that she had been provided the notes by one Abhijit Das whom she had engaged to exchange demonetised currency notes in the bank.The woman claimed that Das had offered to exchange Rs65,000 in demonetised currency notes she was carrying to the bank and came to her residence on Thursday night along with another person and gave her Rs65,000 exchanged notes — 32 notes in Rs2,000 denomination and two notes in Rs500 denomination. All notes were declared fake by local bank officials today.The woman had engaged with Das earlier also to exchange demonetised currency notes worth Rs7,000 as she could not stand in queue for long. The police are now on the lookout for Das.

Cong alleges 55 died due to demonetisation, seeks PM’s apology

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. File photo

New Delhi, November 18

Stepping up its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress on Friday held his “draconian decision” on demonetisation responsible for the death of 55 people and asked him to apologise to their families and the country.Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala released a list of 55 persons who lost their lives while standing in queues at banks and ATMs in the wake of demonetisation and demanded compensation to their families besides probe into their death.“The draconian decision of a dictatorial Prime Minister has led to 55 deaths. Who is responsible for this? The PM should apologise to the familes of those who lost their lives and also to the country. His whimsical decision has led to this,” he told reporters.He also said, “Government must pay adequate compensation to these 55 families who lost their near and dear ones. Their deaths must be investigated and consequent action taken.”     He also accused the Prime Minister of “acting first and thinking later”, alleging that no proper planning was made by his government before implementing the decision which has thrown the country into “financial anarchy and chaos”.Surjewala said while the people of the country are facing hardship and harassment because of the “whims and fancies” of the Prime Minister bent upon “image building”. He alleged the Prime Minister was now dubbing all those questioning his demonetisation exercise as “anti-nationals”.The Congress leader also demanded that the cooperative sector, which includes banks and societies, be allowed to use old currency notes as the rural economy has been “shut” ahead of the Rabi sowing season.He said following the “Tuglaqi farman” (diktat) issued 10 days ago on demonetisation, the entire country has been plunged into “financial emergency and anarchy”, and the “hapless and helpless” people of India are languishing in long queues amid utter chaos and confusion.“All this has been done on account of obduracy of one individual and for his image building. India has a Prime Minister who decides first, thinks later and listens to no one. When glaring mistakes and bungling are caught, anyone asking questions is branded as ‘anti-National’,” Surjewala said. — PTI

Banks to not exchange old notes tomorrow; senior citizens exempted

People queue up to exchange their old 500 and 100 rupees notes at the Jammu & Kashmir Bank in Rajouri on Friday. PTI photo

New Delhi, November 18

Banks will only allow senior citizens to exchange old 500 and 100 rupees notes on Saturday, officials have said.

The Indian Banks’ Association announced on Friday that banks would not serve non-bank customers on Saturday — a break after more than a week of long working hours. However, senior citizens will be exempted.

“All other services at banks will be operational. Tomorrow, we will complete our pending work,” IBA chairman Rajiv Rishi. — Agencies

 

No move to seal bank lockers, confiscate jewellery: Fin Min

The ministry also said that the Rs 2,000 notes had a safety feature, which was called “intaglio”

New Delhi, November 18Scoffing at rumours, the Finance Ministry on Friday said there was no move to seal bank lockers nor was it true that the ink of the new Rs 2,000 notes had been bleeding in some cases.“Myth: Next move is to seal bank lockers and confiscate gold, diamonds and jewellery. Reality: This is baseless. There is no proposal to seal bank lockers and confiscate the jewellery,” the ministry tweeted in its official Twitter account.

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The ministry also said that the Rs 2,000 notes had a safety feature, which was called “intaglio” (a design that is incised or engraved into a material).“To identify a genuine note when you rub it against a cloth, a turbo-electric effect is generated and it is due to this that the note’s ink gets transferred on to the cloth,” the ministry said. IANS

SC says situation serious, fears riots

CASH CRISIS Top court refuses to stay hearings on pleas, asks why exchange limit cut

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court came down hard on the government on Friday for not doing enough to ease the cash crunch in the country, warning that the situation was serious and people were still so anxious that there could be riots.

The government’s surprise decision to scrap high-value currency has led to chaos, with snaking queues outside banks and ATMs even 10 days after the decision. The bills accounted for 86% of all cash in the economy.

“People are affected and they have the right to approach the courts. People are frantic. There may be riots,” said a bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice AR Dave.

The court also refused the government’s request to put on hold petitions pending in various high courts challenging the decision to scrap `500 and `1,000 banknotes.

“Multiple petitions show the kind of problems people are facing. They are going to high court for relief. If we shut them from going to the high court, how can we know the magnitude of the problem?” the judges argued.

Adjourning the matter for November 25, the court said it might move pleas pending in various high courts to the one in Delhi.

Defending the government move, its top law officer, attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, said steps had been taken to ease people’s hardship, but there were still some problems in moving cash quickly to banks, ATMs and post offices.

The top court’s rebuke was virtually echoed by the Calcutta high court which told the Centre that its near-daily revision of cash guidelines was harassing people. It asked the government to list relief measures taken so far by November 25.

The government, which has limited cash withdrawals, has struggled to keep up with the demand for money. Several people have complained that banks were giving them `2,000 notes that were of little use in face of the currency shortage.

“We asked you to give some relief but you have reduced the exchange limit,” the top court said, referring to the previous hearing when it asked the government to ensure that people were not inconvenienced. “Is there a printing problem?” Trying to convince the court, Rohatgi said the government was aware of the inconvenience and, therefore, issued new notifications daily. But, it was not possible to give `100 to everybody, the AG said, when the court asked him if there were enough notes.

Rohatgi also clashed with Kapil Sibal who is representing one of the petitioners to challenge the demonetisation move. He accused Sibal, a senior Congress leader, of turning the court into a political platform.