PIL questioning use of Devanagari numerals in Rs 2,000 notes dismissed

MADURAI: A Madras High Court bench here today dismissed a PIL questioning the central government's decision to use Devanagari numerals on the new Rs 2,000 notes.

Justices A Selvam and P Kalaiyarasan, while dismissing the petition filed by city resident K P T Ganesan, however, said he could file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The judges rejected the plea after a central government pleader submitted that similar cases had been filed in the apex court and were pending there.

Ganesan submitted that the new notes should be declared invalid as the Constitution does not permit use of Devanagari numerals in the currency.

He said the notes "violated" the Constitution, which mandated that the form of numerals to be used for "official purposes of the Union should be in the international form of Indian numerals only".