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A Public Interest Litigation has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Central Government to implement a Uniform Banking Code for Foreign Exchange Transaction in order to control black money generation and Benami transactions.

The plea filed by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay states that the "immigration rules for Visa are same whether a foreigner comes in Business Class or Economy Class, uses Air India or British Airways and comes from USA or Uganda. Likewise, deposit details in Indian banks, including foreign bank branches for Foreign Exchange Transaction must be in the same format whether it is export payment in a current account or salary, in a savings account or donation, in charity's current account or service charges payable in YouTuber's accounts."

It adds that in a camouflaged way, foreign money is being transferred to accounts of Separatists, Fundamentalists, Naxals, Maoists, Terrorists, Traitors, Conversion Mafias and Radical Organizations like SIMI, PFI etc.

In addition to this, the plea further seeks "direction to ensure that Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Instant Money Payment System (IMPS) shall not be used for depositing foreign money in Indian Banks as it is not only harming national interests of Foreign Exchange Reserve of India but also being used to provide money to Separatists, Fundamentalists, Naxals, Maoists, Terrorists, Traitors, Conversion Mafias & Radical Organizations like SIMI, PFI."

The plea, therefore, prays for the direction that Foreign Exchange Transaction through Indian bank including foreign bank branches in India viz. ICICI, HDFC, HSBC etc. must have the following information:

i. Name and Mobile Number of Depositor.

ii. International Money Transfer (IMT) and not RTGS/NEFT /IMPS.

iii. Name of Currency e.g., AUD (Australian Dollars), USD (US Dollars), CNH (Chinese Yuan), GBP (Great British Pounds), EUR (Euro) etc.

iv. Exact Amount of foreign currency up to two decimal places.

v. Conversion rate up to three decimal places e.g., USD conversion rate is Rs. 73.570 and AUD conversion rate is Rs. 55.108

Cause Title: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay Vs. Union of India & Ors.