News & Media 24th Aug 2022
Post Supreme Court ruling, all the criminal prosecution or confiscation proceedings initiated under the Benami Transaction Prohibition Act before October 25, 2016, will now be treated as null and void. However, proceedings initiated after demonetisation, for cash deposited in benami bank accounts could see more and more people coming forward to accept the guilt and pay the penalty to end the matter. At the same time, Income Tax Department may reopen cases involving Benami transactions.
Against this backdrop, Naresh Thacker, Partner at Economic Laws Practice (ELP) has been quoted by BusinessLine in their article titled ‘Experts analyze SC’s latest order on Benami transactions’. He says, “Any cash deposits in the Benami accounts under the un-amended act, i.e before 2016, were also prohibited under the Benami Transaction Act of 1988, except if such deposits were in the name of the wife or unmarried daughter. However, this exception was deleted in the 2016 amendment.” Further to this, Pulkit Poddar, Associate Partner with ELP highlights that in a recent Madras HC ruling it was observed that once demonetized, currency notes do not constitute legal tender for forming the part of ‘consideration’ under the Benami Transactions Act.
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