Bombay HC dismisses plea alleging wrongful activities by RBI during 2016 demonetisation

A division bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Sharmila U Deshmukh passed the judgment in the plea by one Manoranjan Santosh Roy, who claimed to be a tax volunteer, alleging that the RBI failed to follow due procedures and helped undue beneficiaries get their unaccounted old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes exchanged in 2016 when the central government carried out demonetisation with the help of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

Roy claimed that numerical data extracted from RBI annual reports and RTI reply indicate wrongful action by the central bank and engagement in a “huge scam”, and the same would require investigation and immediate action. Roy said he filed a complaint with the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau in 2018, however, there was no action, therefore he moved the high court in 2019.

However, the bench observed that the complaint did not warrant any investigation as it could not prove an irregularity or illegality as alleged.

The bench also observed that the petitioner had been persistently seeking a probe into the statutory functioning of the RBI since 2015 alleging irregularities without supporting the claims through reports from any independent financial experts.

It observed that the plea was nothing but a “fishing enquiry” into what the petitioner perceived to be a scam. “In our view, reliance cannot be placed on half-baked information pleaded in the petition and the complaint to direct an investigation in the statutory functioning of an institution like RBI,” it noted.

The bench said the plea was “frivolous” and deserved to be dismissed with exemplary costs imposed on the petitioner. However, after the petitioner’s lawyer urged the court not to do so, the bench refrained from imposing costs.