The matter of cooperative banks came up in the Supreme Court on Friday which directed a bunch of petitions filed on the issue to be categorized. Appearing for one of the petitioners Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal said that it would be done by Monday. The apex court has fixed the next date of hearing on December 5.
Acknowledging the miseries of rural folks in the wake of demonetization who mostly depend on co-operative banks for their needs, the Court however wanted the govt to intervene and ease the crisis. It asked if something could be done on the problems faced by cooperative banks.
The Bench was headed by the Chief Justice of India T S Thakur and included Justice D Y Chandrachud. The petitioners were represented, among others, by two high-profile lawyers Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram.
The lawyers for the petitioners argued that there is no rational explanation for excluding co-op banks from the process of demonetization and leaving them high and dry. This has exposed the people of rural areas to massive hardships. Agreeing with them, the Bench said the govt must take steps to solve the crisis. The court, however, wanted categorization of different pleas so that a systematic hearing could take place.
Appearing for the govt Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi assured the bench that the govt is well-aware of people’s troubles but since co-op banks are not technologically equipped like their commercial cousins they have been kept out of the process.
Rohtagi said as co-op banks cannot detect fake notes; their involvement would defeat the very purpose of demonetization. “Entire chapter in the additional affidavit filed by the Centre is dedicated to the issue of co-operative banks. It is not that we are not aware of the situation”, he added.
Rohtagi also requested the bench to make any of the High Courts as nodal point to hear cases pertaining to co-op banks as it is not possible for the govt to fight the same issue from one state to another. Readers would note that there are cases in the matter pending in several courts including Kerala, Kolkata, Jaipur and Mumbai. Even Uttrakhand CM has announced to approach the High Court in the matter.