New Delhi: Holding “more than a specified number” of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes beyond March 31 will attract a fine of Rs 10,000 or five times the cash held, whichever is higher, as the Cabinet approved on Wednesday the promulgation of an ordinance to make the same a penal offence.
Sources said the proposal put to the Cabinet, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, also included a four-year jail term for offenders, but it was not immediately clear if it was approved. While there was no clarity on the number of old notes that can be legally held, a news report said the penalty for holding old currency in excess of 10 notes may include financial fines and a jail term of up to 4 years in certain cases. Their possession would only be permitted for numismatics. The notes withdrawn from circulation on November 8 are being deposited at banks till December 30. After that there will be a window till March 31 to deposit them at RBI branches. As per the ordinance, furnishing wrong information while depositing the old currency between January 1 and March 31 will attract a fine of Rs 5,000.
Ordinance to end liablity of RBI: Centre
The Specified Bank Notes Cessation of Liabilities Ordinance will be sent to President Pranab Mukherjee for his assent. It is expected to be replaced by a law in the Budget session of Parliament, likely to begin by the end of January.
The ordinance would also amend the RBI Act to extinguish the government’s and the RBI’s liability — to pay the bearer of the scrapped notes the value promised. Similar laws were enacted in the past after the demonetisation of Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 notes in 1978.
Mr Modi’s announcement of his radical monetary reform to a stunned nation scrapped Rs 15.44 lakh crore overnight. Of this, about Rs 14 lakh crore has been either exchanged or deposited at banks.
