Ever since RBI published a circular a few weeks back on prohibiting its banks on dealing in cryptocurrencies, many cryptocurrency exchanges and bodies in India have been enraged by the crypto ban. In fact some of them have also filed a petition against the RBI which has moved to the Supreme Court of India. The regulator has given banks a deadline of July 6 to adhere to the new rule.
Latest filing the writ petition against the central bank is Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). The petition was filed in the apex court on Tuesday. IAMAI president Subho Ray has confirmed the filing of the petition but did not want to comment since the matter was scheduled for a hearing.
Before this a number of other writ petitions have also been filed in this regard, which include the petition of 11 individuals and a separate petition of 4 major crypto exchanges. Two petitions were also filed in Delhi High Court, one by CoinRecoil and one by MoneyTradeCoin.com, both of which are now also being transferred to Supreme Court for further hearing on request of RBI. This brings the total number of petitions filed against RBI circular to five.
Notice Issued to RBI By the Delhi High Court Following Kali Digital Ecosystem Petition
In fact, an association called Digital and Blockchain Foundation of India was formed last year by several cryptocurrency companies of India, and later this association was merged into IAMAI. Therefore, it was natural for IAMAI to come out against this directive of RBI, which has happened.
However, yesterday, addressing the same issue to the SC, RBI had asserted to the Supreme Court of India that it should not give an ear to the public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue of legality of bitcoins as it was a policy matter. The RBI has also said that the central bank alone cannot take any decision on the legality or illegality of virtual currencies. The banking regulator, in a 15-page response, said that the correct forum to test the correctness of a policy is the Parliament and not the Courts.
RBI To Supreme Court: No Public Interest Litigation on The Issue of Legality of Bitcoins
