The Delhi High Court has stayed proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, against sand mining baron and former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Board member J. Sekar Reddy and two others.
The court passed the direction on a petition filed by Mr. Reddy and his business associates S. Ramachandran and K. Rethinam challenging the proceedings against them by the adjudicating authority in New Delhi on the grounds of lack of coram non judice . The adjudicating authority should comprise a Chairman and two members. But as against the statutory requirement, a single member was conducting the proceedings under Section 8 of the PMLA.
The court directed that further proceedings pursuant to the impugned order of provisional attachment dated May 5, 2017, including the proceedings under the Act for confirmation of the attachment shall remain stayed. However, the attachment of the properties in question would continue. The matter would come up before the court on October 24, 2017.
The Enforcement Directorate here had registered a case against Mr. Reddy and others soon after the Central Bureau of Investigation booked them for possessing ₹33 crore of new denomination (₹2,000) currency notes, barely a month after demonetisation. After the accused were released on bail – since the CBI could not file charge-sheet within the mandatory 90 days period – the ED arrested them on charges of money laundering. The Madras HC had granted conditional bail to Mr. Reddy and others.
