The Government of India on March 1 notified the law under which possession of more than ten old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes is punishable under the law. Not only this, those found guilty of owning the scrapped notes will be liable to pay a fine of at least Rs 10,000.
On February 27, the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee signed the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017. In order to remove the “possibility of running a parallel economy” by using the old notes, the law was passed in the Parliament last month.
Meanwhile, those who were not in the country during the currency exchange period—from November 9 to December 30, 2016—can deposit their notes with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) till March 31. Those declaring the wrong amount of money will be liable to pay a minimum fine of Rs 50,000.
As per the new law, an individual keeping more than 10 scrapped notes and for possessing more than 25 such notes for research or study purpose, a fine of Rs 10,000 or five times the cash will be levied—whichever is greater. From December 31, 2016, the prohibition is imposed on transferring, holding or receiving of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
Govt notifies law to make banned note possession punishable.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 1, 2017
On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, following which most parts of India had to deal with the cash crunch. There were long unending lines outside the ATMs and banks as people went looking for alternatives to deal with the cash chaos. Reacting to the demonetisation, the Congress party on December 27, 2016 headed an anti-demonetisation meeting with eight other opposition parties in attendance.
