Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued an interim order restraining the Anti-Benami Directorate General (DG) from taking action against the properties acquired before the promulgation of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 2017 until next hearing of a writ petition titled SAS (Pvt) Ltd vs Federation of Pakistan – a news source reported.
Until the next hearing, the DG will not apply retroactively. According to the order, the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) Anti-Benami Directorate General has not been able to satisfy the IHC that the law applies to the properties that were acquired before it was enforced.
According to sources, laws that do not specifically mention that they will take effect retrospectively are generally presumed to not have been intended for retrospective effects.
At the same time, the IHC has directed the directorate to
strictly proceed against the properties that are registered after the
promulgation of the law. Reportedly, March 10, 2020 has been fixed as the next
date for the hearing of the case.
