Budget Session: Ordinances on Enemy Property, bank notes tabled in Parliament

An Ordinance under which old denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 will cease to be liabilities of the Reserve Bank of India was tabled in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Ordinances on ‘The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) 2016 and the ‘Payment of Wages’ (Amendment), promulgated on December 22 and 28 of last year, respectively, were also tabled in both the Houses on the first day of the Budget session.

The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, 2016, promulgated on December 30 last year, in pursuance to the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 to scrap notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000, was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs S S Ahluwalia.

He tabled the other two ordinances as well.

In the Rajya Sabha, the three ordinances were tabled by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

The Ordinance on bank notes provides that the specified old currency of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 will cease to be liabilities of the RBI from December 31, 2016 onwards.  Further, these notes will no longer be guaranteed by the central government.

These notes were demonetised on November 8, 2016 through a notification issued under the RBI Act, 1934. The notification had allowed these notes to be deposited in banks or post offices by December 30, 2016.

In the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju also laid a statement on behalf of Home Minister Rajnath Singh explaining the circumstances that necessitated the promulgation of ‘The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) 2016’ on December 22, last year.

The ordinance on Wages had been promulgated on December 28, last year.

The ordinances were tabled after President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to joint sitting of both Houses.