In an important judgment on Wednesday, the Supreme Court upheld the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and retained the powers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The apex court said that the provisions pertaining to arrest and bail are reasonable and have direct nexus to the objectives of the Act.
A three-judge bench, comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar, ruled that supplying the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) copy of the complaint to the accused is not necessary. The court clarified that it is enough to inform the accused about the grounds on which he or she is being arrested.
Seeking similar orders, another batch of cases linked to the same ED probe into the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam were heard on May 16. While issuing notice and granting protection from arrest, the court had directed all matters to come up on July 18. Dave told the court that the matters before the vacation bench could as well come up in July as the issues are similar.
It’s interesting to note that after the July 27 ruling in Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary, the top court in August granted a review petition submitted by MP Karti P Chidambaram (who is also charged under PMLA) against the ruling, opening the door for a reassessment of the harsh provisions.
As the only two provisions being contested in the petition filed by the Congress leader, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, speaking on behalf of the ED, informed the court that since notice in the Govind Singh case was served, a new pattern of petitions contesting PMLA sections 50 and 63 has emerged. The Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary judgement was the result of multiple petitions that were filed in the first round and contested a number of PMLA clauses. With the filing of the Govind Singh issue, a second round has now begun, Mehta said. “This cannot continue after a judgement has been delivered.”
The bench agreed and requested that the advocates make their case. The court scheduled the subject for hearing on Tuesday and stated: “We will decide this issue before us and other petitions (already pending in the top court) will follow the usual course.” This was done since the entirety of the Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary judgement was not produced on record.
India Today- Decoding the big SC verdict on Prevention of Money Laundering Act – India Today
Written By- Aditya Singh, College Name- Army Law College, Pune, Semester- Aditya Singh an intern under Legal Vidhya
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