Madras HC closes PIL on bank challans

The Madras High Court bench here today disposed of a PIL petition seeking a direction to the Reserve Bank of India to print bank forms and challans in regional languages as the apex bank had already issued a circular in this connection.
A division bench of Justices KK Sasidharan and GR Swaminathan disposed of the PIL by one D Raju, after the Manager of Reserve Bank of India, Chennai, submitted that the bank had issued a circular in 2005 to include regional languages in challans and other bank forms.
The General Manager also submitted that incognito visits were made to the banks and wherever challans or payslips were issued without including regional language, the respective regional office was contacted.

It was ensured that regional languages were included, he said.
The RBI, under financial inclusion scheme, had issued a circular to all banks on December 28, 2005, to print trilingual forms, brochures, pamphlets, applications etc.
Master follow-up circulars were also issued in 2014 and 2015, he noted.
Besides, incognito inspections were held to find out if the circular and guidelines to include regional languages had been adhered to by the banks at the branch level, he added.