The government on Wednesday notified the law making it a criminal offence to possess more than a certain number of the old ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes. The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017, was passed by Parliament in February and received President Pranab Mukherjee’s approval on February 27.
Now, possessing more than 10 pieces of old notes by individuals and more than 25 pieces for study, research or numismatics purposes would attract a fine of ₹10,000 or five times the value of the cash held, whichever is higher.
The law also has a provision for a fine of a minimum of ₹50,000 if people falsely declare they were outside the country during the demonetisation period of November 9, 2016 to December 30, 2016.
According to the rules, those actually outside the country within this window are allowed to deposit the old notes till March 31.
The Act also effectively puts to end the liability of the RBI and the government on the demonetised currency notes. The decision to demonetise high value currency notes was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016, with the stated objective of hitting those with black money stashed away, as well as stopping the influx of counterfeit notes of these denominations.
