In November 2017, a Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Rohinton Nariman had struck down Section 45(1) of the PMLA to the extent that it imposed two additional conditions for the grant of bail to persons accused of money laundering.
However, this decision was overruled in July 2022 by a three-judge bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar.
In that ruling, the Court upheld the validity of several other provisions of the PMLA as well, including Sections 3 (definition of money laundering), 5 (attachment of property), 8(4) (taking possession of attached property), 17 (search and seizure), 18 (search of persons), 19 (powers of arrest), 24 (reverse burden of proof), 44 (offences triable by special court), 45 (offences being cognizable and non-bailable and twin conditions for grant of bail by court) and 50 (statements made to ED officials).
The Court further held that the supply of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) to an accused under PMLA proceedings is not mandatory since ECIR is an internal document and cannot be equated to a First Information Report (FIR).
Moreover, the Court rejected the argument that punishments under the PMLA with respect to scheduled offences were disproportional, terming this argument as wholly “unfounded.”
The 2022 ruling invited vehement criticism and led to several review applications being filed.
Source: Barandbench
