CHANDIGARH - Two government colleges, flouting rules laid down by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), have asked students to write the contact details and mobile phone numbers on the currency notes when paying their admission fees from Tuesday.

The directive by the Government College and the Government College for Girls, both in Sector 11, is in stark violation of the RBI’s “Clean Note Policy” that prohibits any writing on currency notes.

The Government College had even pasted a notice at the fees counter, carrying this instruction. The two institutions justified the step, saying it was taken to ensure that stuents did not make payments with counterfeit notes.

Hundreds of students complied before the college authorities withdrew the order Wednesday.

RBI officials here have described the incident as “a serious offence”.

“Writing on or tampering with currency notes is a serious offence as per RBI’s clean note policy,” said R.V. Gawai, deputy general manager at RBI’s Chandigarh branch.

“We are looking into the matter and have appealed to students not to write anything or sign on the notes while submitting fees,” Gawai told IANS.

Added a senior RBI official: “College officials have to own responsibility for this crime. Strict action will be taken against the colleges if they are found guilty.”

Government College principal Shyam Sunder admitted to IANS that the two institutions were not aware of the RBI norms, but have since then withdrawn the order.

“Everyone knows that fake currency notes are circulating in this region. That is why our clerks told students to write details on the notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 to avoid any problems later,” Sunder said.

“However, when we came to know of the RBI norms, we immediately stopped it and now we have told students to write the note number on a separate paper.”

A clerk at a Government College fee counter said around Rs.50 lakh was collected Tuesday, the first day of admissions.

“There are only six fee counters, and if we start scrutinizing every note then we cannot complete our work in time. And if there is any fake note, then we have to compensate from our own pocket,” the clerk said.

Students and parents said they were unaware of any RBI norm in this regard.

Said Shiv Kumar, who was accompanying his son to the Government College: “We have written the name, address, application form number and mobile number on all notes. The clerk sitting at the fees window told us to do so. I do not know anything about RBI norms but everyone standing here in the queue is doing this.”