Deadlines: LHC asked to extend Rs500 note’s life

LHC seeking an extension in the deadline for the removal from circulation of the old Rs500 currency note.

LAHORE: A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court seeking an extension in the deadline for the removal from circulation of the old Rs500 currency note. Petitioner Shahashah Shamil Paracha, through his lawyer Muhammad Azhar Siddique, submitted that many people had been unable to get their old currency notes exchanged on time. He said he had visited the State Bank on October 1, the day after the deadline, and the staff there were refusing to exchange old notes with new ones. He said it was the “duty of the state to send its representatives to the door steps of citizens to facilitate them”. He asked the court to declare that the notification, circular or any legislation cancelling the old notes be declared a violation of the State Bank of Pakistan Act of 1956, the Constitution, and fundamental rights. He also asked the court to direct the federal government and State Bank to extend the deadline for the removal from circulation of the old currency notes.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2011.