Kerala Gazette No. 42 dated 23rd October 2018

PART I

Section i

GOVERNMENT OF KERALA

Law (Legislation-Publication) Department

NOTIFICATION

No. 21888/Leg.Pbn2/2017/Law.

Dated, Thiruvananthapuram, 24th October 2017.

The following Act of Parliament published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary,

Part II, Section I dated the 28thday of February, 2017 is hereby republished for

general information. The Bill as passed by the Houses of Parliament received the

assent of the President of India on the 27th day of February, 2017.

By order of the Governor,

B. G. HARINDRANATH,

Law Secretary.

G. 2/2018/DTP(2).

MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE

(Legislative Department)

New Delhi, the 28th February, 2017/Phalguna 9, 1938 (Saka)

The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the President on the

27th February, 2017, and is hereby published for general information:—

THE SPECIFIED BANK NOTES (CESSATION OF LIABILITIES) ACT, 2017

(ACT NO. 2 OF 2017)

ACT

[27th February, 2017]

to provide in the public interest for the cessation of liabilities on the specified

bank notes and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India

as follows:—

1. Short title and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the

Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017.

(2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 31st day of

December, 2016.

Definitions.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

(a) “appointed day” means the 31st day of December, 2016;

(b) “grace period” means the period to be specified by the Central

Government, by notification, during which the specified bank notes can be

deposited in accordance with this Act;

(c) “notification’’ means a notification published in the Official

Gazette;

(d) “Reserve Bank” means the Reserve Bank of India constituted

by the Central Government under section 3 of the Reserve Bank of India

Act, 1934 (2 of 1934);

(e) “specified bank note” means a bank note of the denominational

value of five hundred rupees or one thousand rupees of the series existing

on or before the 8th day of November, 2016.

(2) The words and expressions used and not defined in this Act but defined in

the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934) or the Banking Regulation Act,

1949 (10 of 1949) shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in those

Acts.

3. Specified bank notes to cease to be liability of Reserve Bank or Central

Government.—On and from the appointed day, notwithstanding anything contained

in the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934) or any other law for the time being

in force, the specified bank notes which have ceased to be legal tender, in view of the

notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance, number

S. O. 3407(E), dated the 8th November, 2016, issued under sub-section (2) of section

26 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, shall cease to be liabilities of the Reserve

Bank under section 34 and shall cease to have the guarantee of the Central Government

under sub-section (1) of section 26 of the said Act.

4. Exchange of specified bank notes.—(1) Notwithstanding anything contained

in section 3, the following persons holding specified bank notes on or before the

8th day of November, 2016 shall be entitled to tender within the grace period with

such declarations or statements, at such offices of the Reserve Bank or in such other

manner as may be specified by it, namely:—

(i) a citizen of India who makes a declaration that he was outside India

between the 9th November, 2016 to 30th December, 2016, subject to such

conditions as may be specified, by notification, by the Central Government; or

(ii) such class of persons and for such reasons as may be specified by

notification, by the Central Government.

(2) The Reserve Bank may, if satisfied, after making such verifications as it may

consider necessary that the reasons for failure to deposit the notes within the period

specified in the notification referred to in section 3, are genuine, credit the value of

the notes in his Know Your Customer compliant bank account in such manner as may

be specified by it.

(3) Any person, aggrieved by the refusal of the Reserve Bank to credit the value

of the notes under sub-section (2), may make a representation to the Central Board of

the Reserve Bank within fourteen days of the communication of such refusal to him.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, the expression “Know Your

Customer compliant bank account” means the account which complies with the

conditions specified in the regulations made by the Reserve Bank under the Banking

Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949).

5. Prohibition on holding transferring or receiving specified bank notes.—On

and from the appointed day, no person shall, knowingly or voluntarily, hold, transfer

or receive any specified bank note:

Provided that nothing contained in this section shall prohibit the holding of

specified bank notes—

(a) by any person—

(i) up to the expiry of the grace period; or

(ii) after the expiry of the grace period,—

(A) not more than ten notes in total, irrespective of the

denomination; or

(B) not more than twenty-five notes for the purposes of study,

research or numismatics;

(b) by the Reserve Bank or its agencies, or any other person

authorised by the Reserve Bank;

(c) by any person on the direction of a court in relation to any case

pending in the court.

6. Penalty for contravention of section 4.—Whoever knowingly and

wilfully makes any declaration or statement specified under sub-section (1) of

section 4, which is false in material particulars, or omits to make a material

statement, or makes a statement which he does not believe to be true, shall be

punishable with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees or five times the

amount of the face value of the specified bank notes tendered, whichever is

higher.

7. Penalty for contravention of section 5.—Whoever contravenes the

provisions of section 5 shall be punishable with fine which may extend to ten

thousand rupees or five times the amount of the face value of the specified

bank notes involved in the contravention, whichever is higher.

8. Offences by companies.—(1) Where a person committing a contravention

or default referred to in section 6 or section 7 is a company, every person who,

at the time the contravention or default was committed, was in charge of, and

was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the

company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the

contravention or default and shall be liable to be proceeded against and

punished accordingly:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such

person liable to punishment if he proves that the contravention or default was

committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to

prevent the contravention or default.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an

offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that

the same was committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to

any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary, or other officer or

employee of the company, such director, manager, secretary, other officer or

employee shall also be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to

be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Explanation.—For the purpose of this section,—

(a) “a company” means any body corporate and includes a firm, a

trust, a co-operative society and other association of individuals;

(b) “director”, in relation to a firm or trust, means a partner in the firm

or a beneficiary in the trust.

9. Special provisions relating to offences.—Notwithstanding anything

contained in section 29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), the

court of a Magistrate of the First Class or the court of a Metropolitan

Magistrate may impose a fine, for contravention of the provisions of this Act.

10. Protection of action taken in good faith.—No suit, prosecution or

other legal proceeding shall lie against the Government, the Reserve Bank or any

of their officers for anything done or intended to be done in good faith under

this Act.

11. Power to make rules.—(1) The Central Government may, by notification,

make rules for carrying out the provisions of this Act.

(2) Every rule made under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it

is made, before each House of Parliament while it is in session for a total period

of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more

successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately

following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in

making any modification in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should

not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or

be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or

annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done

under that rule.

12. Power to remove difficulties.—(1) If any difficulty arises in giving

effect to the provisions of this Act, the Central Government may, by order

published in the Official Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the

provisions of this Act, as may appear to it to be necessary or expedient for

removing the difficulty:

Provided that no such order shall be made under this section after the

expiry of a period of two years from the date of commencement of this Act.

(2) Every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is

made, be laid before each House of Parliament.

13. Repeal and savings.—(1) The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of

Liabilities) Ordinance, 2016 (Ord. 10 of 2016) is hereby repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under

the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the

corresponding provisions of this Act.

DR. G. NARAYANA RAJU,

Secretary to the Govt. of India.