The Asian Age: New Delhi: Friday,
January 27, 2017.
The quantum
of new currency notes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 printed before the announcement of
demonetisation on November 8 cannot be disclosed as it may affect interests of
the State, a subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) responsible for printing
currency, has said.
The response
of the subsidiary came following an RTI query sent to RBI under the Right to
Information Act seeking to know the preparedness of the Bankers' Bank to handle
the cash crisis arising out of sudden announcement by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500.
The central
bank forwarded the query to Bhartiya Reserve Bank Note (P) Limited, Bengaluru
which is wholly owned subsidiary of RBI to respond to query "how much
currency of new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 was printed before announcement of
cessation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 as legal tender was made on November 8".
The
subsidiary was established 21 years ago with an aim to augment currency
printing capacity of RBI "to bridge the gap between the supply and demand
for bank notes in the country" with present capacity for its presses of 16
billion note pieces per year on a two-shift basis, as per web site of BRBNL.
In its
response to RTI query, BRBNL said the information cannot be disclosed citing
section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act. The section allows declining information
disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of
India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State,
relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence.
The Press did
not give any reasons to justify as to how giving plain data about currency
printed by it before November 8 would qualify in any of the categories given
under Section 8(1)(a) to deny the information. Ironically, the RBI in a
separate response had said that it had 2,473 million pieces of 2,000 rupee
notes on November 8 which had a value of over Rs 4.94 lakh crore.
The RBI has
not been fothcoming with information about currency situation in the country
and its preparedness in the wake of demonetisation citing one exemption or the
other.
The monetary
policy regulator had refused to give reasons, sought under the RTI Act, behind
the drastic decision announced by the Prime Minister to demonetise about 86 per
cent of currency in circulation it had adopted silence on whether the views of Chief
Economic Advisor and Finance Minister were taken before demonetisation was
announced.
The monetary
policy regulator also refused to give any details about the time it will take
to replenish the currency notes. The query is in the nature of seeking future
date of an event which is not defined as information as per Section 2(f) of the
RTI Act, RBI had said in response to an RTI query.
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