BREAKING| Supreme Court Allows Open Court Hearing For Review Against PMLA Judgment; Hearing Tomorrow

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed open court hearing in the review petition filed against the judgment upholding the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).A 3-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice CT Ravikumar passed the order allowing oral hearing in the review petition filed by Karti P Chidambaram. It may be noted that review petitions are ordinarily considered in chambers and oral hearing in open court is allowed only in exceptional cases.The matter will be heard tomorrow.The review was sought against the July 27 judgment in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary vs Union of India which upheld the power of arrest, attachment and search and seizure conferred on the Enforcement Directorate by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The judgment was delivered by a 3-judge bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar. With the retirement of Justice Khanwilkar, CJI Ramana presided over the bench which considered the review petition.Interestingly, in a judgment delivered yesterday, a bench led by CJI Ramana had expressed concerns about the PMLA judgment, insofar as it allows ED to take possession of the property before trial in exceptional circumstances. "Having perused the said judgment, we are of the opinion that the aforesaid ratio requires further expounding in an appropriate case, without which, much scope is left for arbitrary application," it said.Recently, former Supreme Court judge Justice L Nageswara Rao, speaking at a public event, opined that he might have taken a different view in the PMLA judgment.Through the impugned judgment, a three-judge bench Bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar upheld the constitutionality of the provisions of Sections 5, 8(4), 15, 17 and 19 of the PMLA, which relate to the powers of ED's power of arrest, attachment, search and seizure.The Court also upheld the reverse burden of proof under Section 24 of the Act and said that it has "reasonable nexus" with the objects of the Act.The Court also upheld the "twin-conditions" for bail in Section 45 of the PMLA Act and said that the Parliament was competent to amend the said provision in 2018 even after the Supreme Court's judgment in the Nikesh Tharachand Shah case (which had struck down the twin conditions).The bench said that the Parliament is competent to amend Section 45 in the present form to cure the defects pointed out in the Supreme Court judgment.Read summary of the judgment here.Case Title : Karti P Chidambaram versus Directorate of Enforcement | RP (Crl) No.219/2022 in TC (Crl) No.4/2018Click here to read/download the order

BREAKING| Supreme Court Allows Open Court Hearing For Review Against PMLA Judgment; Hearing Tomorrow

LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK

Tags