The Indian government has promulgated two Ordinances, and passed one Act post-demonetisation. This is what they say

In the first set of substantial legislative changes post the November 8 announcement of demonetisation, the government has passed one Act and two Ordinances directly related to demonetisation. In addition to the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Act, the government has also promulgated the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, and the Payment of Wages Act (Amendment) Ordinance..This is what they say..1. The Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Act [Presidential Assent on December 15].Unlike the other two legislations mentioned above, this legislation was passed by Parliament, albeit in a manner that was far from ideal. Amongst other things, this amendment increases the penalty for undeclared income..More significantly, the Act also creates a voluntary income disclosure scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana..As explained by Tax Scan, under this Yojana,.“the persons having undisclosed income in the form of cash or deposit in an account maintained with a specified entity (which includes banks, post office etc.) to declare such income and pay tax, surcharge and penalty totalling in all to 49.9 per cent of such declared income..The Scheme further, provides for a mandatory deposit of not less than 25% of the surrendered income with the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme, 2016, which has been separately been notified by the Department of Economic Affairs.”.2. The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Ordinance [Presidential Assent on December 28].The ordinance that amends the Payment of Wages Act of 1936 [pdf], introduces a change in how employees are to be paid wages. More specifically, Section 6 has been amended to allow employers to pay wages through cheques or bank transfers in addition to hard currency..The said Section 6, before amendment, read as follows:.“Wages to be paid in current coin or currency notes.—All wages shall be paid in current coin or currency notes or in both: Provided that the employer may, after obtaining the written authorisation of the employed person, pay him the wages either by cheque or by crediting the wages in his bank account.”.Now, this Section would read,.“All wages shall be paid in current coin or currency notes or by cheque or by crediting the wages in the bank account of the employee. Provided that the appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify the industrial or other establishment, the employer of which shall pay to every person employed in such industrial or other establishment, the wages only by cheque or by crediting the wages in his bank account.”.(Emphasis supplied).In other words, the proviso empowers the appropriate government to prohibit cash payments for certain industries or establishments. The purpose behind this ordinance, as per a clarification issued on December 21 [pdf], was.“[To] also ensure that minimum wages are paid to the employees and their social security rights can be protected. Thus the employers can no longer under-quote the number of employees employed by them in their establishments to avoid becoming a subscriber to the EPFO or ESIC schemes.”.3. The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance [Presidential Assent on December 30].A press note published on the PIB website on December 30 reads,.“The President of India has approved the promulgation of the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, 2016 today i.e. on 30th December, 2016.”.The Press Release further clarifies the extinguishment of RBI’s liability towards these SBNs, and penalises ‘holding, transferring and receiving’ of the SBNs, beyond a certain threshold, during this interim period of transfer..This ordinance [pdf] makes the holding of more than ten old currency notes, an offence punishable by a fine of fifty thousand rupees or five times the face value of the notes held..Via a subsequent notification [pdf], the government has given until 31st March, 2017 to all Indian citizens who were ‘outside India’ during this period, to submit any such SBN with designated RBI Offices and until 30th June, 2017 for citizens of India who are not resident in India..by Varun Marwah & Anuj Agrawal