SC notice to ED on Satyendar Jain’s transfer plea

A bench of justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari asked the agency to submit its counter-affidavit to Jain’s plea by October 19, and fixed the matter for hearing next on October 31

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a petition by Delhi minister Satyendar Jain challenging the transfer of a money laundering case against him to a new trial judge.

SC notice to ED on Satyendar Jain’s transfer plea

A bench of justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari asked the agency to submit its counter-affidavit to Jain’s plea by October 19, and fixed the matter for hearing next on October 31.

On Monday, Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit agreed to list Jain’s appeal for an urgent hearing on a request made by senior advocate Kapil Sibal on behalf of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader.

While Sibal represented Jain in the case, solicitor general Tushar Mehta appeared for ED. Sibal argued that the previous trial judge has not passed even a single order in Jain’s favour and therefore, the allegation of bias by the federal agency was misplaced. The SG, on his part, rebutted Sibal’s argument, saying “there is something more than what meets the eye”.

By its decision on October 1, the Delhi high court had approved the transfer of the the case, noting that ED’s apprehension of bias by a trial court judge is reasonable and not based on flimsy grounds.