Ordinance soon to impose penalty for holding old notes
TNN
New Delhi, 28 Dec 2016: The government will soon issue an ordinance imposing a penalty for possession of scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes+ after the 50-day window for depositing old notes in banks ends on December 30.
Possession of the old notes will only be permitted for the purpose of research and numismatics and the measure is intended to end any prospect of a "parallel currency" continuing after the deadline.
The ordinance will, however, have a clause allowing people to deposit scrapped notes at RBI branches as promised by the government, after giving reasons for doing so.
The ordinance is necessary to complete the legal process of demonetisation as banks will stop accepting deposits of old currency after Friday. The ordinance is expected to be cleared by the Cabinet in a day or two.
"Possession of old notes must be made illegal and punishable to ensure that no one is forced to accept scrapped currency as payment or wages," an official source explained.
The ordinance is expected to be replaced by a law in the Budget session of Parliament, likely to begin by the end of January.