INITIATING OFFICER Vs. GANESH SOPAN SATKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant-Department through its Initiating Officer-cum- Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax (Benami Prohibition) has challenged the order dated 19 th April 2023 under Sec. 46 of the Prohibition of Benami Properties Transactions Act, 1988 (in short, "Benami Act") passed by the Appellate Tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976 (in short, "the Appellate Tribunal").

(2.) The short facts of this case are that an order of provisional attachment under Sec. 24(4)(a)(i) of the Benami Act was passed on 24/11/2017 against the respondents directing that the attachment shall continue until an order under Sec. 26(3) of the Act is passed by the adjudicating Authority. The adjudicating Authority confirmed the provisional attachment by an order dtd. 31/12/2018. Aggrieved by the confirmation order, the respondents preferred appeal before the Appellate Tribunal. By the impugned order dtd. 19/4/2023, the Appellate Tribunal allowed the appeals. However, the Tribunal granted liberty to the appellant- Department herein to adopt an appropriate remedy including filing a review petition or initiating proceedings under the Prohibition of Benami Transactions (Amendment) Act, 2016 (in short, "the Amendment Act"). Aggrieved by the impugned order dtd. 19/4/2023, the appellant-Department has filed the present appeal.

(3.) Mr. Ashok Kotangale, the learned counsel for the appellant- Department submitted that the Appellate Tribunal has placed reliance on the decision in "Union of India v. M/s. Ganpati Dealcom Pvt. Ltd." 2022 SCC OnLine SC 1064 as well as the review petition filed against the said judgment which was then pending before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The relevant portion of the impugned order reads as follows:-