The Supreme Court on Monday examined three crucial provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act that give the Enforcement Directorate sweeping powers to summon accused persons, impose penalties, file supplementary chargesheets and conduct further investigations.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi decided to examine the issue on August 6 upon a request from senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and challenging Sections 44, 50 and 63
as unconstitutional.
The matter has been tagged with petitions seeking the recall of the apex court judgment in the Vijay Madanalal Choudhary case, which had upheld the sweeping powers of arrest and detention vested in ED authorities.
The bench, however, refused to entertain the other petitions filed by Baghel and his son Chaitanya challenging the PMLA and the Prevention of Corruption Proceedings launched against the father and son by the ED and the CBI in connection with alleged liquor and coal scams.
The apex court said the issues related to the individual cases of the Baghels should be raised by the high court.
Sibal told the bench that Sections 44, 50 and 63 were unconstitutional as they gave unbridled powers to the ED to continue investigations endlessly by repeatedly filing chargesheets (Section 44), summon anyone any number of times (Section 50) and extract confessions from accused persons by threatening penalties.
Section 63 says: “Any person wilfully and maliciously giving false information
and so causing an arrest or search to be made under this Act shall on conviction be liable for imprisonment for a term which may extend to ₹50,000 or both.”