Supreme Court Schedules Review Hearing For 2022 PMLA Judgment

The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for 18 September to review a set of petitions challenging the 2022 judgment in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case.

The earlier ruling had upheld the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) authority to conduct arrests, searches, seizures, and property attachments under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

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Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioners, requested the bench led by Justice Surya Kant to reschedule the hearing for 18 September, due to the absence of Justice Ravikumar, a member of the special bench.

The bench, which also includes Justices CT Ravikumar and Ujjal Bhuyan, agreed to the new date.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the ED, did not oppose the rescheduling.

During the last session, Mehta had requested additional time to prepare for the case, noting that the petitions had been recently notified for review.

The Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case affirmed the legality of Section 50 of the PMLA.

This section grants the ED the power to summon accused individuals and record their statements as admissible evidence.

The decision, made by a bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar (now retired), confirmed the stringent provisions of PMLA concerning the definition of proceeds of crime, as well as the powers of arrest, search, seizure, and property attachment.

After the 2022 ruling, people raised concerns about procedural fairness, including the failure to provide the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) to accused individuals at the time of arrest and its impact on the presumption of innocence.

Consequently, a bench led by former Chief Justice NV Ramana agreed to review these aspects.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna’s special bench is examining a separate batch of petitions related to the 2022 PMLA judgment and considering whether to refer the matter to a larger bench.

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