It is a constitutional right of every person to own a property wherever and whenever one wants, for the same one can take loan or mature Fixed Deposit or take some amount from relatives or friends, it is wholly and solely his/her discretion. SC held in one recent judgment that, “Providing financial assistance for purpose of buying property to any relative for welfare of family will not amount to benami transaction.”
Justice L. Nageswara upheld the order passed by Karnataka High Court, which dismissed a plea stating that providing of financial help by G. Venkata Rao to his family members for purchasing some property led to a benami transaction.
For any transaction to be deemed as benami, only consideration of financial assistance or source of money cannot be stated as only ingredient.
As noted by court, “Only purpose of the late G. Venkata in providing financial assistance to his sons was welfare if his family and not otherwise.”
In one of case earlier Justice Rao wrote in the verdict, “The source of money had never been the sole consideration. It is merely one of the relevant considerations but not determinative in character.”
Now, in instant case, the court while considering the point of Benami transaction restated its own precedent.
It referred to the apex court’s judgment in the Thakur Bhim Singh’s case, in which it had held that “while considering a particular transaction as benami, the intention of the person who contributed the purchase money is determinative of the nature of transaction.”
“Further it is observed by this court as to what the intention of the person, who contributed the purchase money, has to be decided on the basis of the surrounding circumstance; the relationship of the parties; the motives governing their action in bringing about the transaction and their subsequent conduct, etc,” the Bench observed.
The circumstances which must be taken into consideration includes the source from which the purchase money came, the nature and possession of the property, after the purchase; motive, if any, for giving the transaction a benami colour; the position of the parties and the relationship if any, between the claimant and the alleged benamidar; the custody of the title deeds after the sale and the conduct of the parties concerned in dealing with the property after the sale.
Courtesy/By: Renu Kathale
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01 Jun 2019
