The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted Congress MP Karti Chidambaram permission to travel abroad subject to necessary conditions laid down in the previous orders.
The three-judge bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar heard the application while hearing batch matters pertaining to the challenge to certain provisions of the PMLA and directed, “the applicant is to comply with all necessary formalities required regarding deposit of passport in the registry.”
On an earlier occasion, the Supreme Court had granted the Congress MP permission to go overseas between October 25 and November 21, 2021 on the condition of depositing Rs 1 crore with the Supreme Court Registry.
Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal, representing Karti Chidambaram, submitted that unless a standard set of conditions apply to the applicant regarding his travel abroad, he is compelled to be present before the court on every occasion after his return to India. Further, Sibal assured the Court that all the necessary formalities will be complied with and that the applicant will cooperate with the investigating agencies.
After hearing Sibal’s submission, Justice Khanwilkar granted permission to the applicant to travel abroad on the terms and conditions as delegated in order of the Supreme Court dated 22. 02.2021.
The order of February 22, 2021 entails the following conditions:
1) File an undertaking before this Court within three days, indicating his flight details and the date of arrival in India.
2) After the undertaking is filed and a copy of the same is served on the assisting counsel of Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General, the passport of the applicant which is in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate, shall be handed over to him, who shall surrender the same after the schedule of visit is over.
3) That the applicant shall not open or close any bank account overseas.
4) That the applicant shall not enter into any kind of property transactions abroad.
5) That the applicant shall give itinerary of his visits and places of residence of foreign countries before proceeding to foreign travel to the respective countries.
6) If the undertaking is not complied with, the applicant shall face such consequences as maybe deemed fit and appropriate.