MumbaiThe Bombay High Court on Friday said that the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) adjudicating authority in the money laundering case, former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. ) and his wife Aarti Deshmukh for temporary confiscation of property and can also pass a final order, but he should not take coercive action in this regard till January 10.
A division bench of Justice Gautam Patel and Justice Madhav Jamdar directed the ED to file a counter-affidavit on Aarti Deshmukh’s plea challenging the agency’s order of temporary attachment of her properties in the money laundering case. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Anil Deshmukh was arrested last month in this connection and is currently in judicial custody. In the petition, Aarti Deshmukh has claimed that she is not against the hearing of the temporary attachment of her properties, but the agency is not following the law in this regard.
Aarti’s advocate Vikram Choudhary had earlier argued that under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the judicial authority as per law should be three-member. It should consist of a chairperson and two members, one of whom should be from a legal background. “At present there is only one member in this authority, who has no legal background,” Chowdhary argued. Last week, when the plea was sought for urgent hearing, the bench had said the authority can hear but it should not pass a final order.
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However, the ED later referred to the matter and said that the High Court had not heard its side before passing the order. On Friday, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the ED, told the court that even the one-member authority has the authority to hear the law. “We are questioning the admissibility of the petition,” he said. To this the court said that the authority can hear and also pass final orders. “Certainly, if any final order is passed, it will come within the purview of our (high court) order on this petition,” the bench said. If the adjudicating authority passes any order between today and January 10, we make it clear that in such a situation no coercive step will be taken against the petitioner and his property.”
There is a provision of quasi-judicial authority under the Money Laundering Act for adjudicating matters relating to confiscation of property. The Enforcement Directorate had temporarily attached assets worth over Rs 4 crore of Deshmukh and his family in connection with the money laundering case earlier this year. The Central Bureau of Investigation registered an FIR against Deshmukh after former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh made a preliminary inquiry into allegations of corruption and misconduct leveled against Nationalist Congress leader and former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. After this, the Enforcement Directorate also started investigation against Deshmukh.