Centre lied about expiry of cap on cash withdrawal: HC told

An application was today moved in the Delhi High Court alleging that the Centre has made false statement before it that the restriction for cash withdrawal of Rs 24,000 by individuals was only till November 24 as this limit was extended till December 30.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal was told that the Centre's notification of November 8, on the weekly withdrawal limit from the banks was modified on November 14 by which the date of expiry of the cap has been removed.

"By virtue of November 14 notification, the government has made Clause 2(vi) applicable till December 30, 2016," the application by petitioner Ashok Sharma contended.
 

He through his counsel A Maitri has alleged that an Additional Solicitor General (ASG) gave a wrong impression that Clause 2 (vi) of the notification expired on November 24.

Based on the ASG's submission, the court on November 25 had rejected his plea on the ground that the limit fixed on cash withdrawal has come to an end on November 24 midnight.

Urging the court to recall its order, the petitioner said, "The government has not come out before this court with clean hands and it seems that deliberately a misleading false and incorrect statement has been made."

The court has listed the application for hearing tomorrow.

The petitioner, who claims that his business was suffering, had moved the court seeking direction to the Centre to remove the cap on daily withdrawal of money deposited by the public in banks before demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

The court, however, refused to go into the merit of the petition and had said the Supreme Court was seized of the issue related to the validity of the Centre's notification.

While seeking quashing of Clause 2 (vi) of the Centre's notification, the petitioner had urged for a relief on the ground that the government's decision to put a cap on weekly withdrawal of Rs 24,000 is "affecting right to livelihood" of the people at large.

Under the earlier Clause 2 (vi), the weekly withdrawal limit from the banks was Rs 20,000 while the daily limit was Rs 10,000. Later, the weekly limit was increased to Rs 24,000 and the daily limit was scrapped. From the ATMs, the daily limit is Rs 2,500.