Kochi: The central government submitted before the Kerala High Court that the rules allowing exchange or deposit of demonetised notes do not apply to the currencies confiscated or seized by the law enforcement agencies or produced before courts after December 30, 2016. A notification issued by the Union Ministry of Finance was produced by the centre in the Kerala High Court. The notification issued on May 12 said that currencies seized or confiscated by a law enforcement agency or produced before a court on or before December 20 could be tendered at any office of the Reserve Bank of India or nationalised bank designated by the Reserve Bank of India for deposit or exchange them with legal tender of the same value.
The persons who got back the confiscated demonetised currencies on the orders of the courts shall be entitled to deposit or exchange such specified bank notes on production of the court directive. However, the serial number of the note should have been noted by the law enforcement agency and mentioned in the order of the courts, the notification said. The governments could also deposit such notes or change the note forfeited in favour of the centre or the state governments. The notification added that these rules shall not apply to the confiscated or seized after December 30, 2016.
In case demonetisation currencies were placed in custody of any other person by an order of the court on or before December 30, the persons shall be entitled to deposit or exchange such scrapped note on production of the court orders. The notification has been produced in a case suo motu initiated by High Court on the basis of various subordinate court reports regarding the demonetised currency of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in the custody of courts. The subordinate courts sought clarification about the disposal of the demonetised currency kept in the courts in connection with cases in which appeals are pending before the High Court and also about the invalid currency retained in some of the magistrates courts in various cases to be committed to the sessions court.
