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Ambarish Mukherjee

There are serious lacunae in the distribution system and sometimes "even less than the recorded amount" is delivered to the bank with regard to high denomination notes.

New Delhi , Dec. 29

THE All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has written to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, demanding a special inquiry into the malfunctioning in the currency note distribution system in the country under the overall supervision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The move follows a surprise incident in an ATM run by the HDFC Bank in Kolkata that delivered a forged Rs 100 note to one of its customers on Tuesday.

The AITUC dominates the All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) and the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) that represents close to 75 per cent of the bank employees in the country.

According to the AITUC, there are serious lacunae in the distribution system and sometimes "even less than the recorded amount" is delivered to the bank with regard to high denomination notes.

The AITUC President, Mr Gurudas Dasgupta, wrote the letter to the Prime Minister, asking for a special inquiry into the distribution of forged notes through the Government banking channel.

Stating that the "central bank comes under the shadow of suspicion, implying thereby that its inbuilt safeguard system have been found to be too soft to deal with the problem of forgery", the organisation urged the Prime Minister to "have a special enquiry into the circulation of forged notes, whether in the custody of the RBI or in the chest of all the safe deposit vaults of the banks."

The Prime Minister's attention had also been drawn to the supply of less than recorded amount of money to the banks particularly for high denomination notes where the sealed packets cannot be exchanged once they are opened and unless the customer opens he cannot count.

"Whatever may be the conclusion (of the inquiry), it is too risky to be overlooked. There are complaints also that the sealed bunches of notes of higher denomination contain less than the required number. Since the sealed cover cannot be opened by the customer, they have to suffer without a protest," he said.

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