The Madras High Court on Monday asked under what authority the Centre used Devanagari numerals on the new Rs 2000 currency notes in addition to the regular English numerical.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras HC which was hearing a PIL filed by KPT Ganesan, a Madurai resident, who had demanded a reply from the Finance Ministry on the issue.
The petitioner argued in court that according to Article 343 of the Constitution, only international form of Indian numerals can be used for official purposes of the union. He also told the court that under the Official Languages Act, 1965, there was no provision to use the Devanagari numeral.
Ganesan told the court that the usage of Devanagari numerals is against the Indian Constitution and asked the court to deem it invalid.
The Official Languages Act which was enacted in 1963 does not have any provision for the use of Devanagari form of numerals. Even the President did not give a nod for such use of Devanagari, the petitioner’s counsel argued.
Ganesan’s counsel told the court that the Centre printed the Rs 2000 notes without passing any law in the parliament either and hence, should be declared invalid.
On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his demonetisation announcement, spoke about the introduction of Rs 2000 notes along with new Rs 500 notes.
Since, its introduction, the Devanagari numerals in the Rs 2000 notes has caught the attention of the public.