NEW DELHI, Sept 9:
The Delhi High Court today fixed for final hearing a plea by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti challenging the Constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh listed the matter for September 14 for final disposal of the petition.
Mufti, in her plea filed in March, has also challenged issuance of summons to her by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. She had stay on the summons but the court refused to grant the relief at this stage.
The 61-year-old leader, who was released last year after more than a year in detention following the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, was served notice to appear at the ED headquarters in the national capital.
Initially, the ED had summoned Mufti on March 15 but did not insist on her personal appearance at that time. Thereafter, she was summoned on March 22.
Mufti, represented through senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, has sought quashing of the summons.
She has also sought that Section 50 of the PMLA be declared void and inoperative, being unfairly discriminatory, bereft of safeguards, and violative of Article 20(3) of the Constitution.
Section 50 of the Act empowers the authority, that is, officers of ED, to summon any person to give evidence or produce records. All persons summoned are bound to answer the questions put to them and to produce the documents as required by the ED officers, failing which they can be penalized under the Act.
She has also sought an interim stay on the summons until the question of law in relation to constitutionality of Section 50 of the Act is decided.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and advocate Amit Mahajan, representing the ED, had earlier mentioned that there was no need to issue formal notice to them as they are already appearing before the court and said they would file a short note on the question of law. (PTI)
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