Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988

Section 69: Laying of Rules and Notifications Before Parliament

Section 69 provides parliamentary oversight over delegated legislation made under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988. Every rule made and every notification issued under the Act must be placed before both Houses of Parliament for the period prescribed by the section.

Current statutory position: The present legislation is titled the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988. The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 substantially amended the 1988 Act, and Section 69 forms part of the amended principal Act.

What does Section 69 require?

Section 69 requires every rule made and every notification issued under the Act to be laid before each House of Parliament as soon as may be after it is made or issued. The laying must take place while Parliament is in session for a total period of thirty days.

The thirty-day period may fall within one session or across two or more successive sessions.
Both Houses may agree to modify a rule or notification.
Both Houses may also agree that a rule or notification should not have effect.
A modification or annulment does not invalidate anything validly done earlier under that rule or notification.

Text and effect of Section 69

Section 69 - Laying of rules and notifications before Parliament.

Every rule made and notification issued under the Act is required to be laid before each House of Parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days. If both Houses agree to modify the rule or notification, or agree that it should not be made or issued, it thereafter operates only in the modified form or ceases to have effect, as the case may be. Any such modification or annulment is without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under the rule or notification.

Meaning of "laying before Parliament"

"Laying" is a legislative-control mechanism used when Parliament delegates rule-making or notification-making powers to the executive. Section 68 authorises the Central Government to make rules for carrying out the provisions of the Act, while Section 69 subjects rules and notifications made under the Act to scrutiny by both Houses of Parliament.

Thirty-day parliamentary period

The statutory period is a total of thirty days while the Houses are in session. Those thirty days need not be continuous and may be completed in one parliamentary session or in two or more successive sessions.

Power of both Houses to modify or annul

If both Houses agree, within the time contemplated by Section 69, that a rule or notification should be modified, it thereafter has effect only in the modified form. If both Houses agree that it should not be made or issued, it thereafter has no effect.

Protection for actions already taken

Section 69 expressly protects the validity of things already done under a rule or notification before its later modification or annulment by Parliament. This saving provision prevents the parliamentary change from automatically undoing earlier valid acts.

Section 69 in brief

Section 69 does not itself create a benami offence, penalty, attachment procedure or confiscation power. Its purpose is institutional: it ensures parliamentary supervision over rules and notifications made under the Act and preserves past actions if Parliament later modifies or annuls the subordinate measure.

Related provision: Section 68

Section 68 is the rule-making provision. It authorises the Central Government, by notification, to make rules for carrying out the provisions of the Act. Section 69 follows that delegated power with the requirement that such subordinate measures be laid before Parliament.