Man Tries To Pay Alimony In Defunct Currency Notes

Kolkata: In a curious fallout of the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, a 70-year-old man was on Tuesday sent to jail for a month by a family court which refused to accept payment of alimony of Rs 2.25 lakh to his former wife in the now-defunct notes.

Additional judge Shyamal Kumar Biswas of the Family Court here refused to accept the petitioner's logic that the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes could be deposited in banks till December 30 and said that these have ceased to be legal tender from November 9.

The petitioner, Bijoy Seal, had been arrested on November 8 on his former wife's complaint of prolonged default in payment of alimony, amounting to Rs 2.25 lakh. Seal, who was an engineer by profession and a resident of College Square in north Kolkata, was produced before the court today after his counsel prayed that he would pay the due amount in full. Seal's brother and granddaughter had brought the amount in Rs 1,000 and old Rs 500 currency notes.

When they offered through their lawyer to hand over the cash during the court hearing, the former wife objected and said that she would accept only new currency notes of Rs 500 or Rs 2,000 denomination or notes of lower denomination. She claimed through her counsel that she would not accept currency notes which have ceased to be legal tender from November 9.

Seal's counsel Pratap Chandra Dey submitted before the court that though the old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes have been demonetised, the Reserve Bank of India has stated clearly that such currency notes can be deposited in banks till December 30. Dey further submitted that with an exchange cap of Rs 4,500 a day, it would take at least 50 working days for Seal to get the full amount of Rs 2.25 lakh exchanged in other currency notes.

The judge, however, refused to accept the contention of Seal's counsel on the ground that the RBI Governor has declared that such notes had ceased to be legal tender from November 9. The judge then ordered that Seal be sent to jail for one month.