Link your land records with Aadhaar, else face action under Benami Act

In a bid to curb benami transactions and bring in transparency, the Centre has asked all states and union territories to complete by August 14 the digitalisation of land records, mutation records, sale and purchase records since 1950 of immovable property including land.

This is necessary as the Centre through enacting of a law proposes to link Aadhaar numbers with the ownership of such properties. The Centre in its notification dated June 15 has said that the properties which are not linked to Aadhaar numbers will be considered for appropriate action under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act 2016.

Chief Secretaries and additional chief secretaries of States and union territories including National Capital Region have been asked to submit their suggestions to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Interestingly, a couple of states including Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have taken steps to link Aadhaar with land records.

An official from the state revenue department told DNA, "After the land records are linked with Aadhaar, the concerned investigating officials and tax department will be in a position to conduct searches to match property values with annual income declared and tax returns filed."