Supreme Court refuses urgent listing of Ashwini Upadhyay plea against RBI decision to allow exchange of ₹2,000 notes without identity proof

The Supreme Court Thursday declined to allow urgent listing of the appeal 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 Sudhanshu Dhulia and KV Viswanathan on Thursday refused to list the appeal filed by Upadhyay against a Delhi High Court verdict which had upheld the RBI decision.During the mentioning today, Upadhyay argued the notification was manifestly arbitrary and enabling criminals to exchange black money. "50,000 crore has been exchanged in 3 days, this is happening first time in the world."The Court said 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."Sorry, we are not entertaining these petitions during the vacation. Please mention before the Chief Justice of India after vacation. Next item." Upadhyay replied saying, "Till then all black money will become white money.".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.A Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that ₹2,000 denomination banknotes were introduced to meet the currency requirement of the economy in the backdrop of the Centre's decision to demonetise high value currency notes in November 2016.The objective was met once banknotes in other denominations became available in adequate quantities, the High Court said.It was observed that the decision to withdraw these notes was not part of demonetisation. Further, the High Court said that government has taken a decision not to insist upon requirement of identity proof for exchange of these notes so that everybody can exchange the same with banknotes of other denominations..In his appeal filed before the top court through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, Upadhyay stated that the High Court ruling was contrary to the objectives of multiple legislation meant to deal with black money, counterfeiting and money laundering.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 plea said.