Lecture Meeting on “Recent Supreme Court decision in Ganpati Dealcom Pvt. Ltd. under Benami Act” (Virtual Mode)

Recently, the Supreme Court in case of UOI v. M/s. Ganpati Dealcom Pvt. Ltd. (Civil Appeal No. 5783 of 2022) has held that the amendments carried out by Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Amendment Act of 2016 in Benami Act are prospective. Prior to this decision, there were doubts as to whether the 2016 amendment Act which substituted and widened the definition of ‘benami property’, ‘benami transaction’ etc. shall have effect to cover transactions entered prior to 2016. The Benami Authorities, treating the amendments retrospective and sought to apply the 2016 amendment to past transactions, however, the taxpayers argued the amendments to be prospective. The Supreme Court has also held that Sections 3 and 5 of the unamended PBPT Act were manifestly arbitrary and unconstitutional since inception and provisions inserted in 2016 are substantive in nature and cannot be applied retroactively.

In order to understand the impact of this ruling on pending litigation in this context and other aspects of the decision of the SC a lecture Meeting has been planned on the above subject.