‘Can’t work like a crook’: Rigid words for Supreme Court Ed; The bench says that the agency should ‘work within four corners of the law’. Bharat News
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday strictly reminded the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that the central agency should work strictly within the law limit, “You cannot act like a crook.” A bench, including Justice Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan, and N. Kotiswar Singh, reviewed the apex court’s verdict and heard the petitions, which retained Ed’s arrest, search and seizure under the prevention of the Money Laundering Act (PMLA).Visible for the Center and Ed, additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju argued that reviews were not worth maintaining petitions, they were described only as a “disguised appeal” against the earlier decision. He claimed that “influential crooks” take advantage of the legal process to delay the investigation by filing several applications, forcing the ED officials to focus on the performance of the court rather than investigating.Justice Bhuan pushed back, highlighting concerns about the agency’s low sentence rate.“You can’t work like a crook, you have to work within four corners of the law. I have seen in one of my decisions that Ed has filed about 5,000 ECIRs (Enforcement case information report) in the last five years, but the sentence rate is less than 10 percent. We are also concerned about the image of Ed. After 5-6 years of custody, if people take responsibility, what is the responsibility?” He said.The ASG further argued that the agency is often “disabled” when “influential accused” escapes in courts like Cayman Island. He also stated that in 2019, a constitution bench of the Supreme Court had already upheld the constitutional validity of the PMLA. The hearing of review petitions will continue next week.(With PTI input)
