New Delhi, May 27 (UNI) The Supreme Court has upheld an order of the West Bengal Land Reforms and Tenancy Tribunal that set aside the declaration of a 1967 gift deed as a benami transaction, ruling that the genuineness of a registered gift cannot be questioned due to a retrospective amendment in law made decades later.
A bench, comprising Justices Rajesh Bindal and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, dismissed an appeal challenging the Tribunal’s order, which had been overturned by the Calcutta High Court.
The Supreme Court restored the Tribunal’s decision, holding that the High Court erred in treating the gift deed as questionable based on an amendment introduced in 1989 to the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955, with retrospective effect.