Since the re-enforcement of Benami Property Transaction Act, over 780 benami asset attachments worth crores of rupees could be invalidated due to the absence of a proper adjudicating authority.
The Act, which was specifically enacted in 1988 and later re-introduced in 2016, deals with money-laundering and black money transactions. Benami properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property has been purchased. Section 7 provides for a three-member commission that deals with the offence of possessing benami property. However, for the last 1.5 years, the Government has assigned all cases on an ‘ad-hoc’ basis to the already burdened Prevention of Money-Laundering Authority. There is a pendency of almost 780 cases, and the Authority is worried that many of the cases would become ‘time-barred’ and hence, the attachments would be invalidated. The Authority has directed the Department of Revenue and the CBDT under the Finance Ministry to withhold cases with the IT department. It has urged them to constitute a new body as soon as possible and provide full staff members so as to prevent the offenders from escaping the law.
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