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CJI to consider listing plea against judgement validating ED powers
The Supreme Court had upheld the stringent provisions of PMLA last month.
Weeks after the Supreme Court upheld the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Chief Justice NV Ramana has said that he would consider listing a review plea on the judgement.
In July, a bench - headed by justice AM Khanwilkar - had dismissed several challenges on the issues linked to the strict provisions under the money laundering act, by the virtue of which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has wide powers.
Review petitions are usually considered inside the judges' chambers and no open court hearing takes place.
In the July 27 judgement, the bench of the top court had also underlined that the power given to the central probe agency for making arrests, carrying out searches and seizures are valid under the constitution and do not suffer from the vice of arbitrariness. Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravi Kumar were other judges on the bench.
Some critics have said the powers may be viewed against the Articles 20 and 21 of the Constitution.
Another strict provision that was upheld in the July 27 judgement was the twin bail conditions required under the law for granting bail to an accused. Under the provision, a court - that hears the public prosecutor against the bail plea - is expected to reach a satisfaction that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the accused is not guilty of the offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.
The Supreme Court's hearing the matter assumes significance amid the opposition's allegations against the Centre on misuse of central probe agencies over the arrest of leaders. Last month, Sena's Sanjay Raut was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case, triggering similar claims.
