Prime Minister's Narendra Modi 's ambitious anti-black money drive has lost its way through the bureaucracy. Stringent Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, which came in force a week before Modi announced demonetisation in November 2016 may prove to be ineffectual if the government does not move quickly.The Income Tax Department has set up 24 benami properties units in its investigation wings across the country to streamline functioning under the new Act. Till last year-end, the department had attached assets worth more than Rs 2,000 crore for which it issued over 530 notices and made 550 attachments.Benami properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property has been purchased.More than 780 benami asset attachments worth crores of rupees run the risk of being invalidated in the near future as the government has failed to create a designated adjudicating authority for over a year-and-a-half since the law came in force, according to PTI.The Act empowers provisional attachment and subsequent confiscation of benami properties. It also allows for prosecution of the beneficial owner, the benamidar, the abettor and the inducer to benami transactions, which may result in rigorous imprisonment up to seven years and fine up to 25% of fair market value of the property. It has asked the Finance Ministry to provide it at least nine junior staff members like court masters and peons.

Source: Economic Times June 04, 2018 10:18 UTC