The Supreme Court agreed to hear on May 4, a suit filed by the Chhattisgarh government, seeking to declare certain Sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as ultra vires of the Constitution.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, along with Standing Counsel for Chhattisgarh government, Advocate Sumeer Sodhi, mentioned the matter before the Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice P.S. Narasimha.
In its original suit filed under Article 131 of the Constitution, the Chhattisgarh government mentioned recent searches being conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the state.
Under Article 131, the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over disputes between two States or the Centre and the State.
The suit raised several constitutional questions regarding Sections 17 (Search and seizure), 50 (Powers of authorities regarding summons, production of documents and to give evidence), 63 (Punishment for false information or failure to give information) and 71 (Act to have overriding effect) of PMLA. It further sought declaration of above-mentioned Sections as being ultra vires of the Constitution.
As an alternative, the state government sought a declaration that provisions of Chapter V (Arrest of persons), VI (Process to compel appearance), VII (Process to compel the production of things), XII (Information to the Police and their power to investigate), and XIII (Jurisdiction of the criminal courts in inquiries and trials) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were applicable to the provisions of PMLA.