The counsel appearing for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that the central bank is a regulator and that nothing specific had been pointed out in the plea as to what the RBI is supposed to do. The counsel said that “any international transfer cannot be RTGS”.
Hearing a plea seeking directions to the Centre to implement Uniform Banking Code for foreign exchange transactions, the Delhi High Court on Monday sought an affidavit from the petitioner of instances where foreign transactions were camouflaged as domestic ones.
The petitioner, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, has alleged inflow of unaccounted money into the country though modes used for domestic transactions, such as RTGS, NEFT, IMPS, which could be used by separatist and terrorist groups.
A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula asked Upadhyay to file an affidavit giving examples or illustrations in respect of foreign funds transfers, which are undetected as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Instant Money Payment System (IMPS). The matter is next listed in December.
The counsel appearing for Reserve Bank of India said the RBI is a regulator and nothing specific had been pointed out in the plea as to what the RBI is supposed to do. The RBI counsel said “any international transfer cannot be RTGS”.
The RBI in its response stated that foreign transactions are covered under Foreign Exchange Management Act, and NEFT, RTGS and IMPS are domestic payment systems and scheduled banks within India have access to them.
It further stated that furnishing of PAN is mandated in the liberalised remittance scheme, which permits resident individuals in India to send money abroad for permitted capital and current account transactions.
The plea sought a direction to ensure that RTGS, NEFT and IMPS are not used for depositing foreign money in Indian banks, claiming that it is not only harming the interests of Foreign Exchange Reserve of India, but also being used to provide money to separatists, fundamentalists, Maoists, terrorists, traitors, conversion mafia and radical organisations like SIMI, PFI.
The plea also sought that the Centre take steps to ensure that foreign exchange transactions are not carried out without giving “Full Name, PAN, AADHAAR, mobile number and details of depositor and drawer”, which can be used to track black money routes.
