Delhi High Court allows Mehbooba Mufti to withdraw plea challenging PMLA provision

Mehbooba Mufti had in her plea sought declaring section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) void and inoperative

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday permitted PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti to withdraw her petition challenging the constitutional validity of a provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The lawyer appearing for the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister told a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad about her decision to withdraw the petition which was filed in March 2021.

The petition also challenged the summons issued to her by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case and sought a stay which the court had earlier declined.

The court was informed the issues raised by the petitioner have already been addressed by the Supreme Court in a decision.

Ms. Mufti had in her plea sought declaring section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act void and inoperative, being unfairly discriminatory, bereft of safeguards, and violative of Article 20(3) of the Constitution.

Section 50 of the Act empowers the ED authority to summon any person to give evidence or produce records. All summoned are bound to answer the questions put to them and to produce documents as required by the ED officers, failing which they can be penalised.