The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
President’s nod to ordinance criminalising holding ‘old’ notes
PRESIDENT PRANAB Mukherjee on Friday approved the promulgation of the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, 2016, which ends the Reserve Bank of India's liability on extinguished notes and permanently end the legal tender status of the old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes.
For those citizens of India who are not resident in India, the note exchange facility would be available till June 30, 2017, the finance ministry said in a statement. This exchange facility will be subject “Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Currency) Regulations, 2015. These rules restrict bringing bringing back Indian currency into the country to Rs 25,000 per person.
“At the time of return to India the number and denominations of the SBN (Specified Bank Notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000) will need to be declared to the Customs authorities at the airports and other entry points. Necessary form for such declaration will be given out by the CBEC... Any false declaration will invite a fine of Rs. 50,000 or five times the amount of the face value of the SBN tendered, whichever is higher,” the ministry said.
The Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Wednesday approved promulgation of the Ordinance. The threemonth window, January 1-March 31, 2017, for deposit of old currency notes in specified offices of the RBI after submitting a declaration form will remain open. The ordinance makes holding, transferring or receiving these old notes as illegal, with provisions for penalty for contravention.
“After the period of exchange is over, the liabilities of the Reserve Bank and the guarantee of the Central Government towards the Specified Bank Notes will stand extinguished. Further, to prevent any continued parallel transactions with the SBNS by unscrupulous elements, after this period, holding, transferring and receiving SBNS will attract a fine of Rs.10,000 or five times the amount of the face value of the SBN involved in the contravention, whichever is higher,” it said.