Bring whistle blowers protection norms in Benami law: Panel

A Parliamentary panel today suggested incorporation of provision for whistle blowers and their protection while amending the Benami Transaction Act pending in Lok Sabha.
The Standing Committee on Finance headed by senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily also said that government should specify in the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the bill that the purpose of the amendment is to prevent corruption and track tainted money.
Observing that earlier attempt in 2011 to remove infirmities in the original Act of 1988 has not worked, the Committee said the government might also consider a fresh legislation of instead of overhauling of the existing one.

"The intent of the government should therefore be clearly mentioned in the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill. It is also necessary that prevention of corruption and tracking of tainted money are also added as supplementary objects of the Bill," said the Committee's report tabled in Parliament today.
On whistle blowers, the report made a case for detailed provisions in the bill itself.
"The provisions are also silent on the role of whistle blowers and their protection, which would be important to detect benami holdings. Adequate provisions in this regard should be incorporated in the Bill," it said.

The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015 introduced in Lok Sabha on May 13, 2015, was referred to the Committee on May 15, 2015 for examination.

The panel said the provisions of the proposed bill are silent on the extra territoriality, where the transacting persons standing in fiduciary capacity, benamidar, beneficial owner or the property are situated or located abroad.
The panel also said that it should be ensured that all legitimate and genuine power of attorney holders and owners under legally valid agreements even though it is not registered, are allowed enough time period to legitimise their ownership rights through appropriate amnesty scheme.

Also, there should be complete coordination and intelligence sharing between different agencies such as Income Tax, Excise, Customs, police, banks, stock exchanges, regulators (such as SEBI/RBI) and investigative agencies (like CBI, ED and SFIO).
"This aspect should be adequately reflected in the bill," the report said.
It also said pre-emptive structural or systemic measures to curb generation of black money would be more sustainable and effective from public governance perspective.
The panel further said it has been pleaded by some States where land is a State subject, it would be deemed appropriate that the rights of confiscated benami properties vest with State Governments instead of the Central Government as proposed in the Bill.

"In view of this position, the Committee would like the government to re-examine this aspect in the light of the Constitutional provisions," the report said.