Supreme Court once again refuses urgent listing of Ashwini Upadhyay plea against exchange of ₹2,000 notes without identity proof

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to allow urgent listing of the plea filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay challenging the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notification allowing exchange of ₹2,000 currency notes without any identity proof..A vacation Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal said that there was no urgency in the matter, and the direction given by an earlier bench on June 1 to have the case listed only after the court's summer vacation, should be followed."Direction of the vacation bench as on June 1 cannot be buried by us. Let it be mentioned this before CJI upon re-opening," the Court said..Upadhyay raised concerns about the lack of transparency regarding the amount of money that went into bank accounts during the exchange process. He highlighted that as per the RBI governor, in 10 days ₹1.8 lakh crores were exchanged.He argued that the exchange of ₹2,000 notes would allow all black money to be converted into white money. "All black money will become white money," he said."Everyone pays tax," Justice Bose responded."Only 10 crore (people pay tax)," said Upadhyay."That is income tax.. GST etc everyone pays," Justice Bose.Thereafter, Upadhyay questioned whether the matter was less important than a recent Allahabad High Court order on Mangalik status of women which the apex court took suo motu notice and held a sitting on Saturday.He even suggested that the registrar could be asked to seek directions from the Chief Justice of India (CJI).The Court, however, refused to accede to the request."This is very unfortunate," said Upadhyay."This is a court, not a public platform. Matter has to end somewhere," Justice Bindal responded..The Supreme Court had on June 1 declined to allow urgent listing of the appeal filed by Upadhyay against the Delhi High Court order upholding the RBI notification.The apex court had stated that the plea does not merit hearing during the vacation and said that Upadhyay may mention the matter before the Chief Justice of India when the Court reopens after its ongoing summer break.On June 7, the bench led by Justice Bose had sought a report from the registry as to whether the defects in the appeal had been cured and the matter warranted urgent listing..The Delhi High Court in its verdict on May 29 had reasoned that ₹2,000 notes had served their purpose and the decision to withdraw the same was a policy matter which should not be interfered with by the courts..Upadhyay has stated in his appeal that the High Court ruling was contrary to the objectives of multiple legislation meant to deal with black money, counterfeiting and money laundering.Further, the RBI notification affects the rule of law in India, and is violative of the rights to equality and dignity as banks are allowed to convert black money into white, the appeal said.