'You cannot act like a crook': SC slams ED; questions low conviction rate in PMLA cases
A three-judge bench of the top court, headed by Justice Surya Kant and comprising Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N. Kotiswar Singh, remarked, "You (ED) cannot act like a crook. You have to work within the four corners of law. There is a difference between law-enforcing authorities and law-violating bodies."
The apex court stressed that it is concerned about the agency's image and opined that there is a difference between law enforcement agencies and those who violate the law.
Slamming the ED for its very low conviction rate, the court said, citing the data provided by the government in Parliament, "After 5,000 cases, less than 10 convictions. Why? We are equally concerned about the image of the ED."
The SC was hearing arguments and submissions on the maintainability of a batch of review petitions—filed by Karti P. Chidambaram and others—challenging the correctness of the 2022 Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary (VMC) judgment, which upheld various PMLA provisions.
Replying to the top court's questions, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, appearing for the ED, defended the agency and submitted that one of the reasons for the low conviction rate in PMLA cases is that the "rich and powerful use a powerful battery of lawyers and file so many applications." He added that these accused do not even allow the trial to take place and deliberately delay it.
On the maintainability of the review petitions, Raju sought the rejection of these pleas, arguing that they are, in effect, appeals disguised as reviews.
"If the review is accepted, it would be tantamount to rewriting the judgment of Vijay Madanlal, which cannot be permitted," he said.
Raju pleaded to the apex court that there was no ground made out by the petitioners to seek a review of the 2022 ruling.
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