Thursday 8 December 2016

Benami Property Bill | Owners of Benami Properties May Lose Their Properties

Benami Property Bill | Owners of Benami Properties May Lose Their Properties

What is Benami Property | Benami Property Bill | Owners of Benami Properties May Lose Their Properties | What Action will PM Modi Make on Benami Property

What is Benami Property | Benami Property Bill | Owners of Benami Properties May Lose Their Properties | What Action will PM Modi Make on Benami Property

The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015 was introduced in Lok Sabha on May 13, 2015. ... The Act defines a benami transaction as a transaction where a property is held by or transferred to a person, but has been provided for or paid by another person.
In the noble fight to erase corruption from its roots, the central govt. under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has started a new project to erase corruption from the real estate and property sector. This new project is named as Benami Property Bill. Under this propaganda, it is illegal to buy property in the names of others, who might be relatives too. Benami is a Hindi word which means a object which belongs to no one. But the term Benami property is little different from the usual concept. Under the new laws, all those properties which are not in the name of yours will be Benami and hence will be illegal. There are several properties all across the nation which are Benami and are brought with black money. So Modi has started a new bill which will erase this menace from its roots.
Suppose a person wants to buy a property, which might be a plot of land or an apartment, a bungalow or a commercial space. Then that person who pays the price of the property should ideally become the owner of the property. But in many cases, the story is little twisted. For a property, how big or how small, should be registered in the name of the buyer. In many cases, people pay the price of the property but choose to register the property in the name of a third person. This means the property is in the name of someone and some other person is paying the price for it. That kind of property which is brought under the name of third person is termed as benami property. In most of the cases, the benami properties are brought in the name of closed relatives like brother, sister, uncle, etc. So under the new bill, this practice will come to a halt and only property can be brought in self’s name.
In India, the fight against the illegal or benami properties started back in the year 1988. In that year, an act named BTA was passed to make the transaction of properties and register them to other’s name. This step was taken to fight against the menace of black money which has crippled the Indian economy for years and is a major blot in the country’s future. Now after Modi came to power in the year 2014, one of his major tasks was to solve the problem of black money and throw corruption out of this country, from its roots. So in 2015, the Benami property bill was amended. Under this bill, those properties which are benami will be ceased by the govt.
As per the Benami property bill of 2015, there are several criteria out of which if one is satisfied, that property will be considered as benami and stringent action will be taken as per sections of law. The criteria for a property o become benami are as follows:
  • The purchased property has been registered under the name of a fictitious person who does not exist at all, i.e. the property is brought in a false name. For example, Mr. X is the buyer of an apartment and pays full price of the property. But the ownership recorded and registered with the govt. is under the name of Mr. Y. And the matter of fact is Mr. Y does not exist at all and is a false name. Then that property will be considered as a benami property.
  • The property belongs to a person and is under his/her possession, but the actual price of the property is being paid by another person. Let’s take a simple example. Mr. X has brought a piece of land. Mr. X has paid the price of that land as well as all other costs of registering the land. But while registration, the ownership of the property has been given to Mr. Y. The owner i.e. Mr. Y may be a friend or relative to Mr. X and knows the whole scenario. Then also the piece of land will be deemed as benami property and Mr. Y will be a benamidar which means owner of a benami property.
  • The owner of the property is unaware of the fact that the property belongs to him/her. That means a property is brought under a person’s name without his/her consent. Suppose a person buys a bungalow in the name of his/her uncle. But his uncle is unaware of the fact that the bungalow is registered under his name. This means the entire transaction of property has been done without the consent of the owner. Then, that bungalow will be marked as a benami property.
  • The buyer of the property who made the payment is fictitious or is untraceable but the property is registered in someone’s name. This is another instance where suppose a property is registered under your name but the person who has made the property transaction is fictitious or is untraceable. Then you are just a benamidar and is in possession of a benami property.
Exclusions where the property will be not considered benami under the Benami Property Bill, 2015
The Govt. of India has set some guidelines under which a property will be termed as benami. But there are also certain exceptions and exclusion scenarios when the property will not become benami and will be perfectly legal to posses. Below are some conditions which will not make a property benami and will be accepted under law:
  • A property which is brought under the name of a person’s wife or husband will not be a benami property. This means suppose a person pays for the property but is making his wife, the registered owner of the property. Then the property will be absolutely legal. Same is the case for women buying properties in name of their husbands.
  • A property brought under the ownership of daughter who is not married. Before marriage of your daughter, you can buy a property in her name. Buy after marriage, it will be against the Benami property bill and will be termed as benami property.
  • A transferred property with partly transfer procedure will be excluded from being considered as benami property. Suppose you own a property and is willing to change its ownership. You have initiated the necessary property transfer formalities legally, under the Property Transfer Act of 1882. Then your property will be legal and will not be benami.
  • GPA properties will be exempted from making benami property. GPA property means that property which has been given from one person to another under the rule of power of attorney. If there is a legit paper work of the power of attorney procedure against a property, then it will be excluded from being considered as benami property.
  • Those properties which have joint ownership with valid documentation are also not benami. Properties can be jointly purchased and registered in multiple names. So the joint properties with proper payment and documentation will not become benami. You can own joint property with your son, wife, sibling, business partner, etc.
  • There are special provisions for the HUF families living in India regarding the benami property. A property buyer who belongs to a HUF and is the karta or the leader of the family can buy the property in the names of the family members. But there must be full documentation and the funds used to buy the property should be accounted at any point of time. Another important condition for the HUFs is that the karta must have the fiduciary capacity i.e. the power to handle the money matters of the HUF family.
  • In case a property has been already declared under IDS, 2016, the property will not be booked as a benami property. The central govt. issued a circular for declaring such properties and money which were not declared earlier. The govt. pressed some penalty on those black money and benami properties, imposed tax on it and made it legal. So properties which are already declared under the IDS will be exempted from being ceased by the govt.
Beneficiary is not the owner
For better understanding of benami properties and its logic, the example of beneficiary and owner is described here. You are paying the price of a property and is making your sister the registered owner. But your sister is not using the property or not getting any benefits from it. But, by taking this step, you are drawing benefits like saving on loan interest rates, saving taxes, getting rebate on stamp duty and registration charges of property, etc. Then you are the beneficiary of the property. So your sister will be a benamidar and your property will be deemed benami and is subjected to be ceased by the govt. in accordance to law.
How will the govt. authorities examine whether the property is benami or not?
The govt. authorities will scrutinize each and every property carefully to check the ownership details and the source of funds used to buy those properties in order to finish corruption from its roots. At first, the authorities will examine the source of funds used to buy the property. Then it will check whether there is valid and justified intent behind buying the property in the name of the registered owner. After that, the document verification will be done. This will also include the history of taxes paid to the govt. against the property. The tax evaders will be punished under proper sections of law. The entire investigation will make things crystal clear about the fact, who is the real owner of the property and who is getting benefits out of it. There are several cased of benami properties which is under scrutiny where the value of property is less than Rs. 10 lakhs but there is a PAN registered with it. Generally, PAN is required only when the price of property is more than Rs. 10 lakhs. Those properties which have undeclared taxes and TDS not deducted will be easily marked by the authorities and will be ceased.
Team of authorities responsible for examining the property ownership
Internal reports suggests that the govt. will form teams of authorities which will conduct the property investigations and raids and mark the benami properties. These teams will consist four govt. authorities each. The teams will have members like initiating officer, approving authority, adjudicating authority and administrator. The entire investigation of the benami properties will be done step by step from one authority to another.
Legal actions to be taken against the benami property holders
The govt. has also set some guidelines regarding the legal actions which will be taken against all those benami property holders or better called benamidars. Once a property is marked benami by the investigating team of govt. authorities, it will be impounded by the central govt. The accused will face rigorous imprisonment that may be of 1 year to up to 7 years. In addition to this, penalty of 25 per cent of the property value in the current market will also be charged from the benamidar. Also there is a legal provision for those who will not co-operate with the govt. authorities and will give false information. They may face imprisonment from 6 months to 5 years and also might be charged with 10 per cent of the property value in the current property market. Special fast track courts will be organized to the trail of the benamidars.
Sl. NoAttributesRelated data
1Name of projectBenami Property Bill
2Year of amendment2015
3ObjectiveStop corruption and finish black money
4Launched byShri Narendra Modi
5Rule under which bill is passedBenami Transactions (Prohibition) Act of 1988
6ExceptionsProperty in the name of wife/unmarried daughter, property of Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs)
7Way to declare benami property in advance to avoid legal actionsIncome Declaration Scheme (IDS)

Wednesday 7 December 2016

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)

Apply Online Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) 

Online Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)

The much awaited Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (Yojana) has been launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi that envisages the vision of Housing for All by the year 2022.  The article includes various aspects of the scheme covering the beneficiaries, eligibility and the process for applying under the scheme.
The government of India had earlier launched ‘Housing for All’ scheme, which has now been reformed as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.  The Scheme has been launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on 25th June 2015.
ParametersDetails
Scheme NamePradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
Launch Date25th June, 2015
Estimated Time for Completion7 years (2022)
Primary ObjectiveProviding affordable houses to Indian citizens
Number of Houses to be Built2 crores +
Primary Target GroupPoor people of India belonging to LIG and EWS groups. LIG stands for low income group and EWS stands for Economically Weaker Sections
Primary Target AreaLIG and EWS people of urban areas
Scope of SchemeAcross India
Previous NameHousing for All scheme
Launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modi
The scheme comes with an aim of constructing more than two crore houses across the length and breadth of the nation within a span of next seven years.  This means the scheme which is started in year 2015 would conclude successfully in the year 2022.  The target beneficiaries of the scheme would be poor and people living under EWS and LIG categories in urban establishments of the country.
Housing for All 2022 | PM Awas Yojana
The PM Awas Yojana would start in the year 2015 and would be spread for implementation till the year 2022 and would be carried out in three sustainable phases:
PMAY Phase 1:  The Phase 1 of PM Awas Yojana would span from April 2015 to March 2017 and a total of 100 cities would see the developmental work started and completed during this phase.
PMAY Phase 2:  The Phase 2 of PMAY would span from April 2017 to March 2019 and during this phase, a total of 200 more cities would be covered and developed.
PMAY 3:  The Phase 3 of PMAY would span from April 2019 to March 2022 and during this phase the left over cities would be covered and developed.
The Beneficiaries of PMAY
This scheme would target specific groups from the society, which are:
  1. Women, irrespective of caste and religion
  2. Economically Weaker Section of Society (EWS)
  3. Scheduled Tribes (ST)
  4. Scheduled Casts (SC)
The Government of India would be granting a subsidy to people from these categories so that they buy a home for themselves and their families.  The subsidy amount may range from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.30 lakh.
Features of Housing for All 2022
  • The government would provide an interest subsidy of 6.5% on housing loans availed by the beneficiaries for a period of 15 years from the start of loan.
  • The houses under this scheme would be allotted to preferably the female member of the family. Along with this, preference would be given to the female applicants, in general.  This scheme could well be termed as a pro-women scheme.
  • While allotting ground floors in any housing scheme under the PMAY, preference would be given to differently-abled and older people.
  • The construction of houses under PMAY would be carried out through technology that is eco-friendly.
Interest Rates, EMI Calculation and Subsidy in PM Awas Yojana
The niche of the scheme lies in the fact that the EMI paid by the home owners under the scheme would be reduced significantly.  The current rate of housing loan in India is at 9.50 per cent.  If someone buys a property currently on a loan of Rs 6 lakh for a tenure of 15 years today, he/she would have to pay an EMI of Rs 6,032 per month currently.  However, with 6.5 per cent subsidy under the scheme, the beneficiary would have to pay just Rs 3,850 per month as EMI.  Thus, there is a significant reduction of Rs 2,000 in the EMI itself.

Components (Housing for All 2022)

  1. An average of Rs 1 lakh would be granted by the Government of India to all the beneficiaries under the scheme.
  2. Through Credit Lined Subsidy Scheme, a subsidy of 6.5% would be given to each beneficiary belong from EWS and Lower Income Group categories.
  3. A central government assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh would go to every beneficiary for promoting housing stock and thus 35% of the units under the project would be earmarked for the Economically Weaker Section category.
  4. In addition to the above, an Rs 1.5 lakh would be provided to all eligible urban poor who want to construct their own house in urban areas or wish to make necessary renovations in their existing houses.
  5. You can avail loan under this scheme for building toilets in your existing house.

How to Apply for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Online (Housing for All 2022)

Online application for the scheme
With an objective of increasing and fast forwarding the number of application that people make under this scheme the government has decided to start the online application process. So the urban poor families which are homeless can now apply for a house under this scheme on the online mode. The forms for the scheme can be submitted online. As announced by the government this online form submission process for the urban poor for this scheme will start on the 3rd of November 2016. Please click on this PMAY Form.
As mentioned above the urban poor can now apply for the PMAY through CSC which refers to the common service center that are available in the urban areas and the rural areas for delivering different government services to the Indian citizens. The main function of it is to help in achieving the Digital India mission.
Here are some important details about how the online submission of Awas Yojana forms would work-
  • It has been announced that out of the 2 lakhs CSCs available in the urban areas across the country, a total of 60000 CSCs will be made a part of this scheme and they would be accepting online application form of the scheme.
  • The online from submission under this scheme has been enabled with e-KYC which means Know Your Client. So all the forms will be considered for final submission only after proper verification of the details given by the applicant.
  • Online form submission under this scheme would cost Rs.25 for which the CSC will provide the applicant with an acknowledgement slip which will have the photograph of the applicant and a unique ID on it. This ID should be used for tracking of the application status.
  • Like most of the government schemes, here in this scheme also Aadhaar card is a mandatory document and have to be shown during the application process. In a case where the application does not have an Aadhaar card, the CSC should help the applicant in getting one.
How to find CSC in your city?
Now the question would be on how to find the nearest CSC in your city. Well this process too is quite easy. Anyone who needs to locate a CSC has to go to the following link- http://gis.csc.gov.in/locator/csc.aspx. Once you have opened this link you need to enter your State name, District Name and Block Name in the box given. Once you have entered these details, click on ‘search’. You will then get the detailed address of the nearest available CSC in your city or state or village.
As a matter of information, following are the states in which PMAY would be carried out:
SnoState
1Uttar Pradesh
2Maharashtra
3Bihar
4West Bengal
5Madhya Pradesh
6Odisha
7Telangana
8Kerala
9Jharkhand
10Assam
11Himachal Pradesh
12Tripura
13Meghalaya
14Manipur
15Nagaland
16Tamil Nadu
17Rajasthan
18Karnataka
19Gujarat
20Punjab
21Chhattisgarh
22Haryana
23Jammu and Kashmir
24Goa
25Arunachal Pradesh
26Mizoram
27Sikkim
28Andhra Pradesh
29Uttaranchal
Following Union Territories would also be covered under PMAY
SnoUT
1Pondicherry (Puducherry)
2Lakshadweep
3Delhi (National Capital Territory of Delhi)
4Daman and Diu
5Dadra and Nagar Haveli
6Chandigarh
7Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The scheme is a great initiative by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and if implemented the way it has been formulated and dreamt off, it is going to change the infrastructural face of Modern India and would
How to search your Name in this scheme portal.
Now, how are you going to know whether you are eligible for the PM Awas Yojana? You will have to submit the documents of BPL certificates. And you will be notified from the bank that whether you are eligible or not. But there is also an online way of knowing whether you are eligible or not. For that you have to visit the official website, which is http://pmaymis.gov.in/Search_Name.aspx. There is a list of beneficiaries available within the website. You cannot download the list. And even if you are able to download the list it will not be of very much use to you. The reason is, the list is updated periodically since a lot of individuals names are included in the list and those who have been provided with the Awas Yojana facility, those names are stroked off. So, it will not really be of much use to you if you download the Awas Yojana list.
Pradhan mantri Awas Yojana Application Forms and Toll Free Numbers.
Please click on this link to get PM Awas Yojana Form. Toll free numbers of this scheme are not been released yet.
Update 14th March 2016
ICICI bank Awas Yojana Loans at subsidized rates of 6.5 %
The ICICI bank has planned a scheme to provide millions of Indian, their own dream house, which currently they cannot afford right now. This scheme is in support to the Prime Minister’s housing scheme for the common masses namely the  Awas Yojana. Under this scheme, the ICICI will provide easy housing loans with low interest rates and easy options of EMI so that the financially weaker sections of the population can also accomplish their dream of having their own house.
Under this scheme, the ICICI will provide housing loans at subsidized rates of 6.5 % annually for the loan amount  of Rs. 6 lakh (maximum). This subsidy will be credit linked. This housing loan will be provided along with the partnership with National Housing Bank, which will administer the entire housing project. And the maximum loan tenure to get the subsidy is 15 years.