When history of court is written, this will not be golden period: Kapil Sibal to 3-judge SC bench

Taking up Kavitha’s writ petition, the bench, also comprising Justices M M Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi, said it is of the view that statutory provisions should not be allowed to be bypassed. “All of us in principle agree that we should not, merely because there is a political person or somebody who can directly afford to come to the Supreme Court, bypass all the statutory and constitutional values,” Justice Khanna said.

The bench pointed out that it has already decided to take up petitions seeking a review of the judgment in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary vs Union of India, wherein the Supreme Court upheld the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the powers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the 2002 legislation and said it would hear Kavitha’s prayer challenging the provisions of the Act also along with these petitions

Kavitha, a Telangana MLC and the daughter of former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, was arrested from Hyderabad on March 15 and remanded to ED custody a day later.

Sibal said the investigating agency did not have any evidence except the statements of approvers. “Only one request, please don’t tell me to go back to the high court. Hear it, decide it against me, I do not mind. But see what is happening in our country. Every statement is of an approver, there is not a single piece of evidence. It is contrary to this court’s order,” he submitted.

He also referred to the case of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, arrested in connection with the illegal mining scam, and said, “What happened in Hemant Soren case? What is happening in the trial court? This cannot happen.”

Issuing notice on her plea, the court said in its order that it will be open to her to move the trial court. Clarifying that it had not said anything on the merits of the case, the court added that the application for bail, if filed, would be decided expeditiously.