Supreme Court Forms Special Bench To Hear Review Against PMLA Judgment, Hearing On Oct 18

The Supreme Court has constituted a special bench to hear the review petitions against the 2022 judgment in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case which upheld the constitutional validity of the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) relating to arrest, seizure, presumption of innocence, stringent bail conditions etc.

The special bench consists of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Bela Trivedi. The matter will be heard on October 18.

Justice SK Kaul revealed the composition of the special bench while hearing a case related to the Enforcement Directorate. 

Earlier, in August 2022, while issuing notice on the review petition, a bench led by the then CJI NV Ramana had observed that two aspects of the judgment prima facie required reconsideration - one, the finding that the copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) need not be given to the accused; two, reversal of the presumption of innocence.

In May this year, a two-judge bench had refused to refer 'Vijay Madanlal Choudhary' to a larger bench, saying that it was bound to follow it as it was rendered by a larger bench consisting of three judges.