SC’s big decision on Benami Property Act, know what will change from this?
In order to curb black money, the Modi government had amended the Benami Property Act, during the year 2016, on a provision of which the court has ruled.
SC’s big decision on benami property law
Benami Property Law…. If you deal in property, you are probably familiar with these three words. But the question is why this law once again came in the headlines. Why and what did the Supreme Court have to change in this law? Today we are going to tell you about this. benami property The Supreme Court has recently given a big decision regarding this. During the hearing of this case, the Supreme Court has declared Section 3(2) of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 as unconstitutional.
The provision of 3 years imprisonment is now over
After this, the provision of imprisonment for 3 years has now ended if convicted in the benami property case. The Supreme Court has said that the 2016 amended Benami Act cannot be implemented retrospectively. That is, under the law brought through amendment in 2016, those transactions which took place between 5 September 1988 and 25 October 2016 cannot be forfeited. A benami property is a property whose price has been paid by someone else but in the name of another person. The person in whose name such property is purchased is called Benamidar. Understand the law in simple words. If A has paid for the property, but it is in the name of another person B, it is labeled as benami property. If either A or B is fictitious, then the property is treated as benami property. However, when the property is held by a member of a Hindu Undivided Family i.e. HUF on behalf of the HUF or on behalf of his/her spouse or children, it cannot be treated as benami. As per the law, the Center can confiscate any property tagged as benami property. Cash and sensitive information can also be called ‘assets’ under the Act. Now let’s know the history of this law.
Amendment in law to check black money
Actually, to get rid of the problem of growing black money in India, the Modi government implemented demonetisation in November 2016. In this direction, the government went a step further and changed the Benami Property Act, 1988 and it was amended in the year 2016. Sub-section (2) of this law states that if any person is found involved in the transaction of benami property, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. Under the amendment in 2016, there was also a provision for confiscation and sealing of benami properties.
Now let us know why there was a need to cancel the sentence? The decision given by the Supreme Court on Tuesday is related to the decision of the Kolkata High Court. In fact, the same decision was given by the Kolkata High Court while hearing the Ganpati Dealcom case earlier. On that decision, the central government went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also quashed the sentence, justifying the same decision.
