While many think that the RBI had extended the deposit deadline of December 31, it was only meant for Indian residents abroad and NRIs.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on a plea which alleged that people are not being allowed to deposit demonetized currency notes till March 31 as promised.
The apex court has fixed the petition on demonetization for further hearing on March 10.
On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes as legal tender. The unexpected move was made in an attempt to fight terrorism and curb black money. The RBI had set December 31 as the deadline to deposit and exchange the defunct notes.
Many have been thronging outside the RBI office to exchange the junked notes arguing that the central bank had announced to accept it even after December 3 1. However, RBI has made it very clear on its website that the junked notes were only allowed to be deposited until December 31. "The Specified Bank Notes (SBNs) were allowed to be exchanged for value at RBI Offices till December 30, 2016 and till November 25, 2016 at bank branches/Post Offices and deposited at any of the bank branches of commercial banks/Regional Rural Banks/Co-operative banks (only Urban Co-operative Banks and State Co-operative Banks) or at any Head Post Office or Sub-Post Office during the period from November 10, 2016 to December 30, 2016. The facility for exchange / deposit of SBNs stands closed with effect from December 31, 2016," it said.
It is only in the case of NRIs and resident Indian citizens abroad during the November 9 to December 30 period, that the deposits will be accepted till March 31, 2017.
"A grace period has been provided during which the Specified Bank Notes can be deposited at five RBI Offices (Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Nagpur) in accordance with this Ordinance by Indian citizens who make a declaration that they were outside India between November 9 and December 30, 2016, subject to conditions or any class of persons for reasons that may be specified by notification by the Central Government" notified the central bank.
"With effect from January 2, 2017 Resident Indian citizens who were abroad during November 9, 2016 to December 30, 2016 can avail this facility upto March 31, 2017 and Non Resident Indian citizens who were abroad during November 9, 2016 to December 30, 2016 can avail this facility upto June 30, 2017," stated RBI.
This confusion may have loomed due to Prime Minister Modi's statement on November 8 which indicated that the December 31 deadline may be extended. “There may be some who for some reason, are not able to deposit their old Rs500 or Rs1,000 rupee notes by 30 December 2016," he had said.
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