Calcutta High Court Rejects - PIL Seeks Printing Of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Photos On Indian Currency

A Public Interest Litigation petition seeking directions to print images of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on Indian currency notes was recently dismissed by the Calcutta High Court. 

Haren Bagchi Biswas, 94-year-old freedom fighter, had filed the petition. 

The bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj considered the decision of the Madras High Court in the case K.K. Ramesh v. Union of India and Ors., in which the High Court recently dismissed a plea challenging the Centre’s rejection of a representation for printing the image of Nethaj in the currency notes, finding no fault in the Central Government and RBI’s decision to retain only the image of Mahatma Gandhi. 

Biswas had petitioned the High Court, arguing that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s image, like Mahatma Gandhi’s, should be printed on currency notes in recognition of his contribution to the freedom struggle. 

The petitioner also claimed that the Indian government has failed to recognise Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s contribution to the freedom struggle.

After considering the Madras High Court’s decision, the Calcutta High Court noted that the issue at hand had already been considered by a Committee formed by the Reserve Bank of India, which had deliberated on a similar prayer and had determined that it was not feasible to accept it. 

Having considered the foregoing, the Court concluded that no case was made out for issuing the requested direction in the current case. As a result, the writ petition was dismissed.

Case No- WPA(P) 326/2021 (Haren Bagchi Biswas alias Harendranath Biswas Vs. Union of India).