Former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg who took voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service on 31 October, in a blog post, mentioned that currency notes of Rs 2,000 are being “hoarded” and can be demonetised without causing any disruption.
The blog post written on Thursday, 7 November, one day ahead of three years of demonetisation, stated that a part of Rs 2,000 notes are not in circulation and are currently “not working as a currency of transaction.”
The Narendra Modi-led government had on 8 November 2016 decided to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
“A good chunk of Rs 2,000 notes are actually not in circulation, having been hoarded. Rs 2,000 note, therefore, is not presently working as a currency of transaction. It can be demonetised, without causing any disruption,” read the blog post titled ‘A note on policy measures for building a $10 trillion Indian economy by early 2030s, Reaching $5 trillion by 2024-25, With good quality of life for all her people.’
He further suggested to deposit these notes in banks without any counter replacement.
On 31 October, Garg posted a note on his Twitter handle in which he said his stints as the head of the Finance Department, both at the Centre and in Rajasthan, “ended unceremoniously”.
Although he was designated Finance Secretary, in a surprise move, the government issued an order in July and transferred him to Ministry of Power as the secretary.
In the note, Garg said he would have been the longest-serving finance secretary had he not been transferred.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)