New law to enable confiscation of benami properties: Jayant Sinha

Says this law will enable confiscation of benami property and provide for prosecution

Seeking to curb generation of black money, the government today said it will come out with a new law that will provide for confiscation of benami properties and prosecution of offenders.

"This (Benami) law will enable confiscation of benami property and provide for prosecution, thus blocking a major avenue for generation and holding of black money in the form of benami property," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The Budget 2015-16, presented at the end of February, had announced that the government would come out with a new and more comprehensive Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill.

Apart from confiscation, the Bill would provide for prosecution and would act as a major avenue for blocking generation and holding of black money in the form of benami property, especially in real estate.

Sinha there there was proposal for amending Depositories Act or inserting a provision in the I-T Act for forfeiture of benami assets.

The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act was earlier enacted in 1988, but the rules under that Act could not be formulated due to inherent infirmities in the Act.

Following this, in 2011 the government introduced in Parliament a Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill, which proposed replacing the 1988 Act.

The Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Finance for examination, which submitted its report in June 2012. However, the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of 15th Lok Sabha.