Jose Colaco: Dear Marshall .....Thank You.....I am sure you are right.....Even so
Let me re-submit Q 1: while the RBI guidelines are binding upon Banking institutions and borrowers, transferrers of funds et wrt allied Banking Matters, DOES the RBI, per se, have the legal right to determine the purchase and transfer on land and its relationship to Visa etc ? IF SO .....which Statute / Ratio in Judgment / supplemental regulation are we referring to? It cannot be, I submit that the transfer of a (foreign) person's ( FP ) funds is approved by the RBI (obviously), the FP is relieved of the funds and THEN the transaction is held invalid. That and the 'engineered' visa duration. Something is really OFF. Response: 1. Extract from the old FERA, 1973 is reproduced below. 2.The Reserve Bank of India has been delegated the powers as the Regulatory Authority under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1973 and its successor The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. The directions of the RBI are applicable not only to banks and financial institutions but also to all those whose transactions fall under its ambit. 2. One can comment on the actual transactions which have now become contentious only after having complete information about the facts in each case. 3. On a personal note, it is possible that lawyers and government officials in Goa may have misled the purchasers into believing that they could buy immovable property. Or the purchasers did not do proper due diligence. Or the purchasers were naive to believe that since they were free to buy property in Spain or France, they could do the same here in Goa. Or it is possible that the documentation was incomplete or faulty. Many Russians have acquired immovable property by creating fictitious companies with Indians on Board thereby circumventing the law. Maybe the British could learn from them. Section31 - Restriction on acquisition, holding, etc., of immovable property in India (1) No person who is not a citizen of India and no company (other than a banking company) which is not incorporated under any law in force in India 1 [* * * * *] shall, except with the previous general or special permission of the Reserve Bank, acquire or hold or transfer or dispose of by sale, mortgage, lease, gift, settlement or otherwise an immovable property situate in India: Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to the acquisition or transfer of any such immovable property by way of lease for a period not exceeding five years. (2) Any person or company referred to in sub-section (1) and requiring a special permission under that sub-section for acquiring, or holding, or transferring, or disposing of, by sale, mortgage, lease, gift, settlement or otherwise any immovable property situate in India may make an application to the Reserve Bank in such form and containing such particulars as may be specified by the Reserve Bank. (3) On receipt of an application under sub-section (2), the Reserve Bank may, after making such inquiry as it deems fit, either grant or refuse to grant the permission applied for: Provided that no permission shall be refused unless the applicant has been given a reasonable opportunity for making a representation in the matter: Provided further that if before the expiry of a period of ninety days from the date on which the application was received by the Reserve Bank, the Reserve Bank does not communicate to the applicant that the permission applied for has been refused, it shall be presumed that the Reserve Bank has granted such permission. Explanation. -In computing the period of ninety days for the purposes of the second proviso, the period, if any, taken by the Reserve Bank for giving an opportunity to the applicant for making a representation under the first proviso shall be excluded. (4) Every person and company referred to in sub-section (1) holding at the commencement of this Act any immovabe property situate in India shall, before the expiry of a period of ninety days from such commencement or such further period as the Reserve Bank may allow in this behalf, make a declaration in such form as may be specified by the Reserve Bank regarding the immovable property or properties held by such person or company. 2 [* * * * *] ________________________ 1. The words "or in which the non-resident interest is more than forty per cent." Omitted by Act 29 of 1993, section 18 w.e.f. 8-1-1993. 2. Section 32 omitted by Act 29 of 1993, section 19 w.e.f. 8-1-1993. http://www.legalcrystal.com/act/50708/foreign-exchange-regulation-act-1973-complete-act Regards, Marshall
