Waqf Board Case: Delhi High Court Refuses To Stay ED Summons Against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay the summons issued against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case connected to the alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board recruitment.A division bench comprising of Justice Rekha Palli and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar also refused to issue notice on Khan's pleq challenging the FIR registered by the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB), Delhi as well as the summons and investigation in the matter. As the counsel appearing for the AAP MLA was not available today, the matter was adjourned at his request to February 07. However, the court clarified that it has neither issued notice in the plea nor granted any interim order in favour of Khan.“While adjourning the matter at the request of the counsel appearing for the petitioner, it is made clear that neither the court has issued notice in the petition nor any interim order has been granted,” the court said. Khan's plea also challenges the vires of Section 50 of PMLA, 2002, as well as reading down of the same “in consonance and consistence with” the Supreme Court judgement in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union Of India & Ors. It is his case that there is every apprehension that the power and authority vested with the ED may be rendered as an instrument of misuse and abuse by virtue of deliberate misinterpretation of the provisions of PMLA.“The provisions are being used to persecute and demolish the very basic fabric of the democratic and federal structure of this country, as the Petitioner is being roped into frivolous and baseless proceedings,” the plea states. The case alleges that Amanatullah Khan, while working as chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board, illegally recruited various people in violation of norms and government guidelines. The ED has alleged that Khan acquired huge proceeds of crime in cash from illegal recruitment of staff in the Delhi Waqf Board and invested the same to purchase immovable assets in the name of his associates.ED filed a chargesheet against five entities, including three alleged associates of Amanatullah Khan namely Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir and Jawed Imam Siddiqui, who were arrested by the central agency in November last year.Title: AMANATULLAH KHAN v. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS

Waqf Board Case: Delhi High Court Refuses To Stay ED Summons Against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan

Nupur Thapliyal

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