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SC to hear on Oct 18 pleas challenging judgment upholding PMLA provisions
The court said it will post the petitions challenging PMLA’s Sections 50 and 63 for hearing on November 20 once a decision is taken on the review petitions
The Supreme Court will on October 18 take up petitions challenging its judgment upholding contentious provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul-led bench said on Tuesday. The bench was hearing pleas about the validity of the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s power to summon witnesses and extract confession under the law’s Section 50 and the punishment for false information under Section 63.
“The special bench [to hear review petitions] on PMLA provisions...on October 18,” said the bench, which also comprised Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia.
Justice Kaul will also head the special bench, which will include justices Sanjiv Khanna and Bela M Trivedi. The special bench will hear the review petitions filed against the July 27, 2022, order. It will examine whether the judgment examined the validity of the PMLA law in its entirety. “In that matter, ultimately we will finalize the nitty-gritty on whether the earlier bench of three judges covered all provisions or something has to be addressed.”
The court said it will post the petitions challenging PMLA’s Sections 50 and 63 for hearing on November 20 once a decision is taken on the review petitions.
The ED assured that no summons would be issued to K Kavitha until November 20 as the court took up a separate petition against the agency’s summons to the Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader in the alleged money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise scam case. On September 15, the ED gave a similar oral assurance to the court. Kavitha argued she has to be questioned at her residence as a woman and that ED cannot insist on summoning her to Delhi.
The July 2022 order of a three-judge bench came in a batch of petitions referred to as Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary versus Union of India. The petitions challenged the extensive powers of the ED under PMLA in matters of search, seizure, summoning of potential accused, recording statements having evidentiary value during trial, and stringent conditions for bail.
Congress lawmaker Karti P Chidambaram, who is facing an ED probe, filed the first review petition challenging the July 2022 judgment in August 2022. In August last year, the court issued notice on Chidambaram’s petition and listed the petition in open court for hearing. Review petitions are heard in chambers. Listing such a matter in an open court enables lawyers appearing to make arguments to persuade the court to reverse its earlier decision.
On March 28, Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh Govind Singh challenged the PMLA saying the two specific provisions of Sections 50 and 63 were unconstitutional.
Bureaucrat Anil Tuteja and businessman Anwar Dhebhar, who are facing a probe in an alleged liquor scam in Chhattisgarh, sought interim protection from arrest and also challenged PMLA’s Sections 50 and 63.
On April 28 and May 16, the court issued notices on the petitions and sought the Union government and ED’s responses.
