Supreme Court agrees to review PMLA verdict, issues notice to Centre

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said prima facie two issues, including not providing Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), requires reconsideration

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to have a relook at its July 27 judgement, which upheld the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, giving wide power to the Enforcement Directorate to attach property involved in money laundering, make arrest, and conduct search and seizure.

A bench presided over by Chief Justice N V Ramana, however, clarified instead of the entire judgement, the top court would prime facie look into the issues of non providing of ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report), equivalent to FIR, and negation of the presumption of innocence of the accused in cases probed by the Enforcement Directorate.

The court issued notice to the Union government on review petitions as well as the writ petitions.

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Senior advocate Kapil Sibal and Abhishek M Singhvi, appearing for petitioners including Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, asked the top court to reconsider the entire judgement.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, however, opposed the submission, saying there can't be appeal of the judgement under the guise of invoking review jurisdiction of the top court.

The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar, said that there is no need for elaborate hearing and that there are only two aspects which required relook in the judgement.

"We are in full support of the prevention of black money. Country cannot afford such offences…the object is noble,” the top court said.

Opposing the review petitions, Mehta also submitted the country is a part of the larger global structure and the Supreme Court held that the law was in tune with the international practices and constitutional scheme.

The bench said, "We are not opposing the government to stop money laundering and bring back black money. These are serious offences."

Mehta contended this would have global repercussions.

The court, however, said it was not doubting the objective of the government but there were issues which required consideration.

In the July 27 judgement, a three-judge bench presided over by Justice A M Khanwilkar (since retired) had declared that supply of a copy of ECIR in every case to the person concerned or the accused is not mandatory, if Enforcement Directorate at the time of arrest, discloses the grounds of such an action.