Supreme Court adjourns hearing on plea challenging constitutional validity of PMLA Act

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned a hearing on a plea that challenged the constitutional validity of various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned a hearing on a plea that challenged the constitutional validity of various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh noted that the matter is supposed to be listed before a three-judge bench of the Court. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the petitioners, informed the Court that as per the Court's registry, a fixed date in the matter has not been given.

Solicitor General of India (SGI) Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju requested that the next date in the matter preferably be in the last week of April or the first week of May of this year. The Court proceeded to adjourn the matter to a later date and stated that it would notify the counsels about it. The Court was dealing with a review plea filed by Congress MP Karti Chidambaram that challenged a July 2022 judgment of the Supreme Court, which had upheld various provisions of the PMLA.

The earlier judgement in challenge had upheld the validity of various PMLA provisions that give the ED wide powers of investigation and arrest (Directorate of Enforcement). In its earlier judgment, the court had also ruled that ED inquiries are different from criminal investigations and thus, the procedural requirements and safeguards given under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) don't apply to the ED.

Further, the Court had held that during an ED inquiry, the ED is not required to provide a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) to the accused. ECIR, the Court had held, is an internal document, unlike the First Information Report, and thus, the same is not required to be shared with the accused under the CrPC. Moreover, the Court upheld the stringent bail conditions under the PMLA, which required the accused persons to prove their innocence before bail could be granted.

Many other review pleas that also challenged the July 2022 judgment have been tagged along with this matter. The next date in the matter is yet to be notified by the Court. Advocate Shally Bhasin represented the petitioner, Karti Chidambaram. (ANI)

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