Mumbai: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking directions from the Central government to enact regulation on cryptocurrency in the country. The PIL, filed by a Mumbai-based lawyer, claims that there is an ‘imminent threat’ of rise in the number of money-laundering cases, illicit trade of drugs, terror financing by trading of cryptocurrency, which the authorities have ‘failed to curtail’. The lawyer, Aditya Pratap Kadam, in his petition sought intervention from the courts to formulate appropriate legislation and rules to protect citizen’s interest among other decisions. The PIL has named the Union government, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Reserve Bank of India and Securities Exchange Board of India as parties. Kadam said the petition is filed to highlight the ‘underlying problems and uncontrolled, unchecked trades and malpractices’ in cryptocurrency trading in India. The petition filed last month is likely to be heard later this week.
