A view of Supreme Court of India. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Supreme Court on July 15 agreed to consider a submission for setting up a constitution Bench to hear pleas challenging the validity of passage of laws such as the Aadhaar Act as Money Bills allegedly to bypass the Rajya Sabha.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D. Y. Chandrachud and justices J. B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was urged by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who also heads the Supreme Court Bar Association, that the pleadings are complete and the petitions needed to be listed for hearing. “I will take the call when I form the constitution Benches,” the CJI said.

Earlier, the top court had said it would constitute a seven-judge Bench to consider the issue of validity of passage of laws such as the Aadhaar Act as a Money Bill.

The decision was aimed at addressing the controversy around Money Bills after the government introduced legislations such as the Aadhaar Act and even amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as Money Bills, apparently to circumvent the Rajya Sabha where it did not have a majority then.

A Money Bill is a piece of legislation which can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha cannot amend or reject it. The Upper House can only make recommendations which may or may not be accepted by the Lower House.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking review of its verdict which held that a person cannot be booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by invoking Section 120B of the IPC if the alleged criminal conspiracy was not related to a scheduled offence under PMLA.

Section 120B of IPC provides for punishment for a criminal conspiracy.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal dismissed the petition seeking review of the November 29, 2023 verdict that also said it is not necessary that a person against whom the offence under Section 3 of the PMLA is alleged, must have been shown as the accused in the scheduled offence.

“Applications seeking hearing of the review petitions in Open Court are rejected. Delay condoned. We have perused the judgement and order dated November 29, 2023 which has been sought to be reviewed. There is no error apparent on the record. Even otherwise, there is no ground for review. Review petitions are dismissed,” the bench ordered in its recent order.

On November 29, the top court held, “The offence punishable under Section 120B of the IPC will become a scheduled offence only if the conspiracy alleged is of committing an offence which is specifically included in the Schedule.” In the verdict, the top court had interpreted the provisions of the PMLA and said while giving effect to the legislature’s intention, if two reasonable interpretations can be given to a particular provision of a penal statute, the court should generally adopt the interpretation that avoids the imposition of penal consequences.

In other words, a more lenient interpretation of the two needs to be adopted, it had said.

“The legislative intent which can be gathered from the definition of the scheduled offence under clause (y) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the PMLA is that every crime which may generate proceeds of crime need not be a scheduled offence. Therefore, only certain specific offences have been included in the schedule,” it had said.

The bench had said that allowing criminal conspiracy to be a scheduled offence by itself, without any link to the scheduled offence included in the PMLA, would make the schedule “meaningless or redundant”.

“If section 120B of IPC can be treated as a stand alone offence to attract prosecution under the PMLA, by that logic, a complaint under the PMLA can be filed where the allegation is of criminal conspiracy to commit an offence which is not a scheduled offence,” it said.

The bench had said only because there is a conspiracy to commit an offence, the same does not become an aggravated offence.

“Conspiracy is an agreement between the accused to commit an offence,” it said, adding the interpretation suggested by the ED will defeat the legislative object of making only a few selected offences as scheduled offences.

The bench held, “It cannot be the legislature’s intention to make every offence not included in the schedule a scheduled offence by applying section 120B. Therefore, in our view, the offence under Section 120B of IPC included in Part A of the schedule will become a scheduled offence only if the criminal conspiracy is to commit any offence already included in Parts A, B or C of the Schedule.” The top court had pronounced the verdict in November, 2023 on an appeal against the Karnataka High Court order which had refused to quash the money laundering case against a woman, who was former vice-chancellor of Alliance University.

The ED had booked her under provisions of PMLA by invoking section 120B of IPC though the offences alleged against him were not scheduled offences.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Paytm said its associate Paytm Payments Bank Limited does not undertake outward foreign remittances.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

“The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has questioned senior Paytm executives and taken submission of documents from them following the recent Reserve Bank of India (RBI) action of barring Paytm Payments Bank Limited from accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer account,” official sources said on February 15.

The Central agency, according to the sources, is conducting preliminary examination of documents before it decides to launch a formal investigation into the RBI-flagged alleged irregularities at the fintech company under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

“Some documents have been recently submitted by Paytm executives following which they were asked certain questions. Some more information has been sought,” the sources said.

The Paytm Payments Bank debacle | Explained

“As of now, no irregularities have been detected and a case under FEMA will only be registered once any contravention under the said law is found,” they added. “An investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) involving Paytm is already going on for some time,” they said.

One97 Communications, which provides financial services under the Paytm brand, and its banking arm Paytm Payments Bank have been receiving notices and requests for information with respect to customers of the respective entities, an exchange filing by the company said on February 14.

Paytm said its associate Paytm Payments Bank Limited does not undertake outward foreign remittances.

“One 97 Communications Limited (OCL), its subsidiaries and its associate, Paytm Payments Bank Limited, have over time been receiving notices and requisition for information, documents and explanations from the authorities, including Enforcement Directorate (ED), with respect to the customers that may have done business with the respective entities, and provided the required information, documents and explanations to the authorities,” Paytm said in a regulatory filing.

Paytm said the company and its associate have continued to provide information, documents and explanations to the authorities as required by them.

Also read: Paytm sees ₹300-500 crore blow as customers won’t be able to top up wallets, PPBL accounts

Earlier this month, the Enforcement Directorate and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) asked the RBI to share its report on the recent action taken to bar Paytm Payments Bank Limited from accepting deposits or top-ups in customer accounts, according to sources.

The Central bank, on January 31, directed it to stop accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer accounts, wallets, FASTags and other instruments after February 29.

The ED has been probing Paytm and other online payment wallets as part of its money-laundering investigation against Chinese-controlled mobile phone apps who allegedly laundered funds using merchant IDs created on these fintech platforms.

The FIU has also sought the report from the RBI to analyse whether Paytm or PPBL followed the required procedures as a “reporting entity” under section 13 of the PMLA.

Under this section of the anti-money laundering law, a financial institution, bank or intermediary has to furnish details to the FIU about maintaining records of all transactions and documents evidencing identity of its clients and beneficial owners as well as account files and business correspondence relating to its clients.

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