NEW DELHI: Supreme Court has rescheduled the hearing on a plea seeking review of its 2022 verdict on the validity of various provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which gives Enforcement Directorate wide-ranging powers to summon and arrest people, and now fixed it to Oct 16.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, C T Ravikumar and Ujjal Bhuyan deferred the hearing after Centre pleaded for it on the ground that it was not provided the copy of all petitions filed in the case. As the hearing in the case has been deferred many times, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners, opposed it but the court adjourned the hearing. The hearing was deferred when it was taken on Aug 7 and posted to Aug 28, but the case was taken on Sept 4, and that day too it was deferred to Sept 18.
The petitioners are seeking re-examination of SC's July 27, 2022 order which upheld the stringent regime prescribed for money laundering offences and vast powers enjoyed by ED, allowing the agency to arrest people and conduct search and seizure even when no complaint has been filed, making statements made before the agency admissible in court while also putting the burden on the accused to prove his innocence. Interestingly, within a month of the order, SC decided to re-examine the verdict and issued notice to Centre in Aug 2022.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, C T Ravikumar and Ujjal Bhuyan deferred the hearing after Centre pleaded for it on the ground that it was not provided the copy of all petitions filed in the case. As the hearing in the case has been deferred many times, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners, opposed it but the court adjourned the hearing. The hearing was deferred when it was taken on Aug 7 and posted to Aug 28, but the case was taken on Sept 4, and that day too it was deferred to Sept 18.
The petitioners are seeking re-examination of SC's July 27, 2022 order which upheld the stringent regime prescribed for money laundering offences and vast powers enjoyed by ED, allowing the agency to arrest people and conduct search and seizure even when no complaint has been filed, making statements made before the agency admissible in court while also putting the burden on the accused to prove his innocence. Interestingly, within a month of the order, SC decided to re-examine the verdict and issued notice to Centre in Aug 2022.
