The Enforcement Directorate (ED) which is probing the alleged money laundering scam involving former home minister Anil Deshmukh has raised the grievance before the Bombay high court on Tuesday that it was not heard before passing restraining orders against Adjudicating Authority from deciding on the provisional attachment of Deshmukh’s assets.
On Monday, the HC had restrained the authority from passing final order till further directions while hearing a plea filed by Deshmukh’s wife Aarti, challenging the provisional attachment of assets by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The HC had, however, permitted the authority to complete its hearing.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh informed a division bench of justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar on Tuesday that the court failed to hear the investigating agency’s contentions before passing such an order.
Her lawyers, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri and advocate Inderpal Singh, contended that the composition of the adjudicating authority under the PMLA was improper.
The authority is supposed to include a chairperson and two members, one of whom has to be mandatorily from law background. At present, the authority comprises only a single member body who is not a member of law.
The HC had then kept the petition for hearing on January 14, 2022.
However, on Tuesday, the HC kept the petition for hearing on December 10.