The Supreme Court of India is set to hear review petitions on May 7 against its previous ruling in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case, which upheld important provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
Previously, a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, CT Ravikumar, and Ujjal Bhuyan was handling the matter. However, with Justice CT Ravikumar’s retirement, the bench had to be restructured. Now, Justice N Kotiswar Singh has joined Justices Kant and Bhuyan, and the newly formed bench will conduct the hearing at 2:00 PM on May 7.
“The hearing of review petitions will now be conducted by a reconstituted bench following Justice Ravikumar’s retirement,” stated court officials.
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Background of the Case
The original judgment in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India was delivered on July 27, 2022 by a three-judge bench consisting of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and CT Ravikumar. In this judgment, the Supreme Court upheld several critical provisions of the PMLA law.
Key provisions upheld include:
Section 5, 8(4), 15, 17, and 19: These deal with the Enforcement Directorate’s powers such as search, seizure, attachment, and arrest.
Section 24: This introduces the reverse burden of proof, meaning the accused has to prove their innocence.
Section 45: It provides for twin conditions for bail, which were previously struck down in the Nikesh Tarachand Shah case but were reintroduced through an amendment. The court upheld Parliament’s power to make this amendment.
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“The provision has a reasonable nexus with the objectives of the Act,” said the bench while justifying the reverse burden clause.
Following this decision, eight review petitions were filed. With the retirement of Justice Khanwilkar, then Chief Justice NV Ramana took over to consider the review petitions.
During the first hearing on August 25, 2022, the bench led by CJI Ramana pointed out two key areas for reconsideration:
“One, whether the accused should be given a copy of the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report), and two, the reversal of the presumption of innocence needs fresh scrutiny,” the bench orally observed.
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The Court allowed an open court hearing for these review petitions, showing the seriousness of the concerns raised. The matter was first listed on August 7, but was postponed after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta requested time to prepare. It was later listed for September 18, then moved to October 16, but was not heard as Justice Surya Kant was on leave.
Now, with the bench reconstituted, all eyes are on May 7 when the Court will hear these crucial review petitions.
Case Title: Karti P Chidambaram v. The Directorate of Enforcement | RP(Crl) 219/2022 and connected cases
