POSSESSION OF OLD NOTES AFTER DECEMBER 30 MAY INVITE PENALTY

Suchetana Ray, HT, 26 December 2016, NEW DELHI: The government may bring in an ordinance to penalise those found holding “high amount” of junked `500 and `1,000 bank notes after December 30, the last date for depositing the scrapped currency in banks.

“There is a thinking within the government to provide for penalising those caught with high amounts of banned notes. If this is introduced, it will be in the form of an ordinance,” a government official in the know of the matter said, referring to a constitutional provision that allows a law to be enacted when Parliament is not in session. The officer did not want to be identified.

There was no official word on the move which was likely to come up before the Cabinet on Wednesday, PTI said.

Exchange of only a limited number of old notes would be allowed at Reserve Bank of India offices after December 30. “There will be strict monitoring of the source of the notes being exchanged after December 30,” the source said.

After PM Narendra Modi announced demonetisation on November 8, the government had said that exchange of old notes would be allowed at Reserve bank offices till March 31, 2017. But since then, the government and Reserve Bank have frequently changed rules, 60 times at the last count. The government is likely to notify new rules on December 30.