Demonetisation: Shiv Sena claims credit as Centre allows cooperative banks to deposit old notes

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Wednesday claimed credit for the Union government’s decision to allow the district central cooperative (DCC) banks among others to deposit demonetised currency with RBI by 20 July. [caption id=“attachment_3732559” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file image of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. PTI[/caption] The Sena said in a statement on Wednesday that the party president Uddhav Thackeray had demanded that the RBI be allowed to accept the scrapped currency lying with DCC banks in Maharashtra, which would help them give fresh loans to farmers. After the 8 November shock demonetisation announcement, the government had allowed commercial banks and post offices to accept the junked currency from the public until 30 December. District central cooperative banks were allowed to accept them only until 14 November. The finance ministry, through a notification on Wednesday, allowed banks and post offices to exchange any old junked notes with RBI in the next one month, provided they were collected by 30 December, 2016. The same window would also be available to co-operative banks if they had collected the banned notes by 14 November. The earlier window was open until 31 December, a day after the 50-day period of demonetisation. According to a government official, the notification for the fresh window comes as per the commitment that was given to the Supreme Court. Last December, the government had made a commitment to the apex court that it will soon issue a notification allowing the district cooperative banks to deposit demonetised notes with the RBI. According to a recent report, district central cooperative banks in Maharashtra are stuck with Rs 2,770 crore worth old notes they collected during the early days of demonetisation but were unable to deposit them with RBI. This had led to stalling of a Maharashtra government scheme to hand out Rs 10,000 cash to distressed farmers. Several leaders including NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and those from Shiv Sena had represented to the government for allowing cooperative banks to exchange old notes.