The Income Tax Department has attached Benami properties from 900 cases worth over Rs 3500 crores. This is the biggest in terms of properties attached after the enforcement of the Amended Act in November 2016. The original Act was created in 1988 and was amended in 2016.
Backgrounder
Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016
The Act prohibits them and further provides that violation of the PBPT Act is punishable with imprisonment and fine. The PBPT Act prohibits recovery of the property held benami from benamidar by the real owner. Properties held benami are liable for confiscation by the Government without payment of compensation.
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 and is remarkable in terms of the following features:
(i) it amends the definition of benami transactions,
(ii) it establishes adjudicating authorities and an Appellate Tribunal to deal with benami transactions, and
(iii) it specifies the penalty for entering into benami transactions.
The Act provides for provisional attachment and the subsequent confiscation of benami properties -both movable and immovable in stricter terms. After the enforcement of the amended law, the Tax Department has made extensive arrangements including the setting up of 24 dedicated Benami Prohibition Units under the investigation directorates across the country.
