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New Delhi: The Supreme Court asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED)on Tuesday not to summon BRS leader K Kavita in the Delhi Excise Policy case until hearing her plea on November 20. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia gave this direction when Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, said that the agency will not summon Lok Sabha MP Kavita for questioning until the court challenges the summons. They do not listen to their pleas.
The bench said to Raju, “We have to hear the case. Don’t call him in the meantime.” Initially, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary and advocate Nitesh Rana, who appeared for Kavita, said that no punitive action should be taken till then and the interim order passed by the bench on September 15 should be extended.
The bench said, “You cannot say that a woman cannot be called for questioning in any capacity as a witness. Yes, some safeguards have to be put in place.” The bench posted Kavitha’s petition on November 20, in which she challenged the summons issued against her by the Federal Investigation Agency and said that if interim orders of protection were issued in related cases, they would be extended.
Justice Kaul informed the lawyers that a special bench comprising him and Justices Sanjeev Khanna and Bela M Trivedi has been constituted to hear the review petitions challenging the July 27, 2022 judgment of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, seeking The constitutional validity of the Redress Act was upheld.
He said that the special bench would sit on October 18 and issue procedural directions regarding the petition. Justice Kaul said, the only question that needs to be decided is whether the grounds raised in the review petitions are covered in the 2022 judgment and if they are not covered, refer the matter to a larger bench. will go
On September 15, the ED had told the apex court that the summons issued to Kavita to appear before the agency would be extended by 10 days. The ED issued summons to Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kavita on September 4 and asked her to appear at the agency’s Delhi office on September 15. He has moved the apex court with an application seeking a direction to restrain the ED from summoning him through summons under Section 50 of PMLA during the pendency of his petition.
In his petition, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader has sought protection from penal action by the Anti-Money Laundering Agency on the grounds that various criminal laws, including the PMLA, have exemptions for women. Section 50 of PMLA deals with powers of officers in relation to summons, production of documents, evidence etc.
The application also sought a stay on the September 4 summons or any other summons and all related punitive measures. In a landmark judgment on July 27, 2022, the apex court upheld the ED’s powers under the PMLA relating to arrest, attachment, search and seizure of property involved in money laundering, which had been challenged by several petitioners including Congress leader Karti Chidambaram.
