Tibetan government admits 73 benami properties

HimVani

Dharamsala: in an important development, for the first time the Tibetan government in exile at Dharamsala has admitted having benami properties in Himachal Pradesh. A list of 73 such properties has been submitted by the Tibetan government to the Kangra deputy commissioner with a request to regularise them.
It may be remembered that the income tax department had carried out surprise checks at properties owned by Tibetans and also at some well-known monasteries around the district had had found irregularities.

The Tibetan government has requested the administration to register the said properties in the name of Tibetan Welfare Society under a lease agreement. The government has also offered to pay 10 percent of the market value for the properties. Considering the seriousness of the issue, His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself is said to have intervened to resolve the matter.