Section 52 of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988: Appeal and Revision

Section 52 gives the High Court appellate and revisional powers in relation to proceedings before a Special Court under the benami property law. It treats the Special Court, for this limited purpose, as a Court of Session within the territorial jurisdiction of the High Court.

Updated: 14 September 2026

Key point: Section 52 forms part of Chapter VI dealing with Special Courts. The provision concerns criminal appellate and revisional supervision by the High Court; it is distinct from appeals to the Appellate Tribunal under Section 46 and appeals to the High Court under Section 49 against orders of the Appellate Tribunal.

Text of Section 52 - Appeal and revision

Section 52. The High Court may exercise, so far as may be applicable, all the powers conferred by Chapter XXIX or Chapter XXX of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), on a High Court, as if a Special Court within the local limits of the jurisdiction of the High Court were a Court of Session trying cases within the local limits of the jurisdiction of the High Court.

What Section 52 means

The provision places a Special Court constituted for offences under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 within the High Court's criminal appellate and revisional framework. In practical terms, the High Court may exercise the powers that the criminal procedure law gives it in appeals and revisions, so far as those powers are applicable to proceedings arising from the Special Court.

The statutory fiction is important: for the purpose of these powers, a Special Court situated within the High Court's territorial jurisdiction is treated as though it were a Court of Session trying cases within that jurisdiction.

Why the section still refers to the CrPC, 1973

The current text of Section 52 continues to refer expressly to Chapters XXIX and XXX of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Those chapters dealt respectively with appeals and reference and revision under the CrPC.

Current procedural context: The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 came into force on 1 July 2024 and repealed the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, subject to the repeal and savings provisions in Section 531 of the BNSS. Pending appeals, applications, trials, inquiries and investigations existing immediately before commencement continue to be governed by the saved CrPC provisions as specified in Section 531. For later proceedings, the corresponding BNSS provisions and any applicable transitional rules should be checked before filing.

This page therefore preserves the exact statutory language of Section 52 instead of replacing the words "Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973" in the bare provision. The present-day procedural effect must be read together with the BNSS, 2023 and its savings clause.

Appeal and revision: basic distinction

Appeal

An appeal is a statutory remedy by which a higher court examines an order, conviction, sentence or other appealable decision of a lower court. The scope of an appeal depends on the governing statute and the criminal procedure law applicable to the proceeding.

Revision

Revisional jurisdiction is supervisory in character. It enables the High Court, within the limits prescribed by criminal procedure law, to examine the correctness, legality or propriety of specified findings, sentences or orders and the regularity of proceedings.

Connection with Special Courts under the Benami Act

Section 50 provides for Special Courts for trial of offences punishable under the Act, while Section 51 applies criminal procedure to proceedings before the Special Court subject to the provisions of the Act. Section 52 then addresses the High Court's appeal and revision powers over such Special Court proceedings.

For readers following the statutory sequence, see Section 51 - Application of criminal procedure to proceedings before Special Court and Section 53 - Penalty for benami transaction.

Official legal sources

Practical note

Before relying on Section 52 in a pending or proposed matter, verify the date on which the underlying criminal proceeding began, the order sought to be challenged, the applicable savings provision, limitation requirements, and the corresponding appeal or revision provisions under the procedural law governing that case.