The Act amends the existing Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, and came into effect on November 1, 2016. The modified new legislation will be known as Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 (PBPT Act). The Act is going to be an ace weapon to track and trap blakc money supplementing the Income Declaration Scheme 2016 and the demonetisation programme launched by the government.
The Act provides for imprisonment of upto seven years, confiscation of the property and non-return of the property from the benamidar to the real owner. There is no compensation by the government if the property is confiscated. The Act is tries to sort out the weaknesses of the existing provisions.
