Delhi High Court asks RBI, Centre to consider difficulties of visually impaired before printing new currency notes

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central government to consider the difficulties faced by visually impaired persons with regard to accessibility, before introducing new currency notes [Rohit Dandriyal & Ors v. Reserve Bank of India & Anr + Connected matters]..A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela noted that as per the RBI, printing notes is usually carried out once in nearly ten years. “If that is so, we direct that both, the RBI as well as the Government of India, shall address the difficulties and impediments faced by vulnerable class of citizens like the specially abled/visually impaired persons and take into account the workable suggestions of the High Powered Committee before issuing or printing new currency notes. After all, the provisions of the Act [Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016] have been promulgated by the Government of India to alleviate and assuage the concerns of one of the most vulnerable citizens of this country,” the Court said. .The Bench passed the directions while disposing of a batch of petitions seeking improved accessibility of currency notes, digital payment systems and banking services for visually impaired persons and persons with disabilities. The plea requested the RBI to ensure that all currency notes, particularly the ₹50 note, include identification marks accessible to visually impaired persons. Also prayed for was a direction to phase out inaccessible currency and make banking portals and digital means accessible. .After considering the case, the High Court said that the issue of introducing digital currency or issuance of specially designed notes for the benefit of persons with disabilities or the visually impaired falls squarely within the realm of policymaking.However, it expressed hope that the government and the RBI would implement the suggestions of the High-Powered Committee constituted on the Court’s orders. "Given the fact that printing of new currency notes after alignment with the suggestions of the Committee may entail huge costs running into thousands of crores and the recall and destruction of old/prevalent currency would itself entail huge costs and time, we can only observe that the RBI and the Government of India shall keep in mind and take into consideration the suggestions of the High Powered Committee as and when the Government of India and RBI decide to print fresh currency."Further, the Court said that the RBI must ensure that the suggestions of the Committee as well as its own directions issued to various banks with regard to improving accessibility to visually impaired people, are scrupulously implemented. “The RBI must obtain six (6) monthly reports from various banks as to the progress made by each of such Banks till it is finally implemented or the goal reached,” the Court said. .Advocates Rohit Dandriyal, Mini Agrawal, Deepesh Aneja, Ila Sheel, S Singh and Areyna Shruti appeared for the petitioners. Advocates Shiva Lakshmi, Madhav Bajaj, Katyayani Joshi, Esha Kumar, Ishkaran Singh Bhandari, Piyush Yadav, Rajesh Gogna, Monika Arora, Subhrodeep Saha, Prabhat Kumar, Anamika Thakur and Abhinav Verma represented the Central government. RBI was represented by Advocates Ramesh Babu, Manisha Singh, Jagriti Bharti and Tanya Chowdhary. Advocate Arjun Mitra appeared for IIT Delhi. .[Read Judgment]