The government has notified the law making possession of more than 10 scrapped notes punishable with a minimum fine of 10 thousand rupees. The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017, was passed by Parliament last month to<br/>eliminate the possibility of running a parallel economy using the old demonetised notes of 500 and 1,000 rupees. With this, possession of more than 10 pieces of the old notes by individuals and more than 25 pieces for study, research or numismatics purpose has become a criminal offence, attracting fine of 10 thousand rupees or five times the cash held, whichever is higher. <br/><br/>The Act also ends the liability of the Reserve Bank and the government on the demonetised currency notes. The bill was signed by President Pranab Mukherjee on 27th of last month. The Act also provides for a minimum fine of 50 thousand rupees for false declaration by persons who were abroad during the demonetisation period between November 9-December 30 last year and given time to deposit such scrapped notes with RBI till 31st of March.