The Bombay High Court has asked RBI to respond to a clutch of petitions on the demonetization issue filed by some cooperative banks pointing out inconsistencies in the two circulars issued to them, reports Press Trust of India.
Earlier, the Mumbai and Solapur district central cooperative banks had approached the High Court challenging the RBI circular of Nov. 14 not permitting them to exchange or deposit old currency notes.
The court also directed Additional Solicitor General to produce a copy of the transfer petition filed by the Union government in the Supreme Court. The Solicitor General informed the high court that the Union government, in the transfer petition, has sought the apex court to direct for all petitions filed in various high courts in the country to be either heard by SC itself or any one HC.
The contentions raised by the district co-operative banks in these petitions are similar to the petitions pending before the Supreme Court, Addl. Solicitor General said.
Senior counsel appearing for the Mumbai District Co-operative Bank, however, told the court that the petitions filed by the co-operative banks are different in that they are not questioning the demonetization scheme per se, they are just objecting to the RBI circular.
The bench asked the Union government to produce the transfer petition saying if the main petition filed in the Supreme Court covers the same contentions as raised in these petitions, then it would not hear the matter.