Meghalaya strengthens Benami Act

SHILLONG: The Assembly on Thursday passed the Meghalaya (Benami Transactions Prohibition) (Amendment), Bill, 2018, during the autumn session.
For the existing definition of the Meghalaya Benami Transactions Prohibition Act, 1980, two new clauses have been inserted namely, Benamidar and beneficial owner.
Benamidar means a person or a fictitious person as the case may be, in whose name the benami property is transferred or held and includes a person who lends his name.
Beneficial owner means a person, whether or not his identity is known, for whose benefit the benami property is held by the benamidar.
Further, the existing sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act has been substituted by, “The state government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute a committee or an authority in each district for receiving and causing verification of a complaint or information of a transaction in benami in the state, as may be prescribed by rules.”
The proposed amendment is to enable the state government to constitute a committee so that it can monitor such transactions.
Other Bills
The Assembly also passed the Meghalaya Appropriation Bill to withdraw Rs 559,69,22,192 from the Consolidated Fund of the state for the financial year 2018-19.
The amount is for payment for services during the current financial year.
The other bills passed in the Assembly were the Meghalaya Essential Services Maintenance (Amendment) Bill, 2018, Meghalaya Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial establishment) Bill, 2018, Meghalaya Societies Registration (Amendment), Bill, 2018, Meghalaya Passengers and Goods Taxation (Amendment), Bill, 2018 and the Meghalaya (Taking over of District Council Lower Primary School Amendment), Bill, 2018.