SC upholds ED power to arrest under PMLA; orders enhanced pay scale for judicial officers

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) powers relating to arrest, attachment of property involved in money laundering, search and seizure under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that were challenged by multiple petitioners including politician Karti Chidambaram. Among other important matters the apex court heard during the day include the one on enhanced pay scale for judicial officers across the country. The top court also upheld the constitutional validity of some provisions of two state laws of Kerala which mandated production of receipt of remittance of welfare fund contribution by transport vehicles owners at the time of paying vehicle tax before the Taxation Officer. During the day, another bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana agreed to consider listing for hearing a 2020 PIL seeking a direction to the Centre to declare the Law Commission as a “statutory body” and appoint the chairperson and members to the panel. The same bench also agreed to hear on Thursday two separate pleas of the Jharkhand government and Chief Minister Hemant Soren against a high court order that had accepted the maintainability of a PIL for a probe against the JMM leader into alleged irregularities in the grant of mining leases. The apex court also ordered implementation of an enhanced pay scale for judicial officers across the country with retrospective effect from January 1, 2016 as recommended by the Second National Judicial Pay Commission, saying it is not going to wait “endlessly”. Besides these cases, a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna adjourned the hearing on a plea of sacked Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt seeking suspension of sentence in a 30-year-old custodial death case as one of the advocates appearing in the matter was suffering from swine flu. Posting the next hearing on August 3, the apex court, however, expressed its displeasure over frequent adjournments in the case for some or the other reason. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah also clarified that it has not authorised any intermediary to collect any charges from home buyers for providing updates regarding judicial proceedings. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.