PMLA: SC asks executive to take corrective measures on vacancies in appellate tribunal

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it needs to impress upon the executive to take corrective measures expeditiously concerning vacancies in the Appellate Tribunal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

While upholding the validity of certain provisions of the PMLA, the apex court observed that the tribunal should be functional and accessible to aggrieved persons uninterruptedly.

A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar noted that a grievance was made about the vacancies in the Appellate Tribunal despite the serious prejudice being caused on account of provisional attachment order and, in some cases, taking over possession of the property so attached. The bench observed that this grievance, even though genuine, cannot be the basis to test the validity of provisions of the PMLA or to question the efficacy of those provisions on that account.

''The Parliament by this special legislation having created an expert body being Appellate Tribunal to deal with matters concerning attachment, possession and confiscation and vesting of property in the Central Government, it is, but necessary, that the forum should be functional and accessible to the aggrieved persons uninterruptedly,'' said the bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar.

The top court said, ''we need to impress upon the executive to take necessary corrective measures in this regard.'' ''Absent such forum, the aggrieved persons have to rush to the high court on every occasion which indeed is avoidable,'' it said.

The bench further said, ''The petitioners are justified in expressing serious concern bordering on causing injustice owing to the vacancies in the Appellate Tribunal. We deem it necessary to impress upon the executive to take corrective measures in this regard expeditiously''.

In its 545-page judgment, the bench noted that one of the points argued before it was that the appellate tribunal is one of the safeguards in the Act to provide oversight to prevent the abuse of the mechanism of attachment and even this oversight has been rendered redundant since there has been no appointment of a chairperson or members of the Tribunal since September 21, 2019. The top court delivered its verdict on a batch of petitions concerning the interpretation of certain provisions of the PMLA.

It upheld the ED's powers relating to arrest, attachment of property involved in money laundering, and search and seizure under the PMLA.