A legal notice has been served demanding immediate halt to the printing of new money without reserves of gold, silver, or foreign currency, alongside the annulment of Tk1,000 notes to curb inflation and prevent the spread of black money.
Supreme Court lawyer Md Mahmudul Hasan Mamun sent the notice on Tuesday to the Cabinet secretary, the secretary of Finance Division under Ministry of Finance, and the governor of Bangladesh Bank.
According to the notice, Bangladesh Bank is continuously supplying artificial “unbacked paper currency” into the economy without maintaining any reserve backup.
The sender claimed that under universal rules of economics and monetary policy, issuing new currency mandates maintaining equivalent reserves in gold, silver, or reliable foreign currencies such as the US Dollar, Euro, and RMB.
However, published monetary policy documents of Bangladesh Bank outline various frameworks for maintaining price stability and managing monetary policy, but do not mention any central bank rule restricting currency supply strictly to gold or silver reserves.
Economic impact and Constitutional rights
The notice stated that arbitrary money printing without reserves reduces the purchasing power of money under the Quantity Theory of Money, driving up daily essential prices and creating severe inflation in the country.
This unbridled inflation severely damages the capacity of poor, low-income, and middle-income people to bear necessary living expenses, including food.
Interpreting the constitutional right to life as the right to live with dignity rather than mere survival, the notice contended that forcing citizens to suffer and die from food shortages in an extreme economic crisis caused by unbacked currency printing constitutes a violation of fundamental rights.
Call to annul Tk1,000 banknotes
The legal notice also presented arguments against the Tk1,000 banknote, stating that citizens, day labourers, and small traders have no practical need for such high-denomination notes in daily transactions.
It claimed that high-value notes allow corrupt syndicates, tax evaders, and criminals to store illegal wealth outside the banking system, fostering a shadow economy.
Citing the withdrawal of 2,000-rupee notes in neighbouring India, the notice asserted that Tk1,000 notes should similarly be annulled in Bangladesh to destroy black money stockpiles and restore transparency to transactions.
The notice gave the authorities a 15-day deadline to take necessary legal and administrative measures to completely halt money printing without proper reserves and annul Tk1,000 notes to dismantle black money reserves.
It warned that if these measures are not implemented within the stipulated timeframe, a public interest writ petition will be filed in the High Court Division to safeguard the macroeconomy and protect the fundamental rights of ordinary citizens.
