Supreme Court recalled its earlier order from August 23, 2022, which had declared Section 3(2) of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, unconstitutional

 On Friday, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud, Justices J. B. Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra stated that the constitutionality of the provisions had not been in dispute during the original proceedings. The Supreme Court recalled its earlier order from August 23, 2022, which had declared Section 3(2) of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, unconstitutional.

This decision followed a review petition filed by the Centre challenging the 2022 ruling, which was issued by a bench led by then Chief Justice N. V. Ramana, alongside Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli.

The current bench emphasized that the constitutional validity of the provisions had not been challenged in the original case. "It is undisputed that there was no contest regarding the constitutional validity of the provisions of the unamended Act. This is evident from the formulation of the question. In light of this, the review must be allowed. It is well established that a challenge to the validity of a statutory provision cannot be resolved in the absence of a live dispute. The issue of constitutional validity was not adequately addressed," the bench articulated in its order.

The initial judgment had deemed unconstitutional the provision of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, that imposed a prison sentence for engaging in benami transactions. Additionally, it determined that the Act, as amended in 2016, could only be applied prospectively and nullified all prosecutions or confiscation proceedings that occurred prior to the enactment of the amendment.