Delhi High Court directs Registrar of Adjudicating Authority under PMLA to ensure all orders must be served and uploaded on website within 48 hours [Read Judgment]

The Delhi High Court directed the Registrar of Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to ensure all orders must be served and uploaded on the website within 48 hours.

The Petitioner, Bliss Adobe Pvt. Ltd. sought two primary reliefs. Firstly, that a copy of the order dated 1st January 2021 passed under Section 8(3) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 be supplied to the Petitioner. Secondly, the same may not be given effect for a period of at least 45 days in order to enable the Petitioner to approach the Appellate Tribunal under Section 26 of the PMLA.

Mr. Siddharth Aggarwal, the counsel appearing for the Petitioner submitted that it is unfortunate that the authority did not supply a copy of order dated 1st January, 2021, despite repeated requests and now, physical possession of the property, being 40, Amrita Shergill Marg, New Delhi – 110003, is sought to be taken.

Mr. Amit Mahajan, the counsel appearing for the Respondents submitted that under Section 8(4) of the PMLA, once the provisional order of attachment is confirmed, the authorised Officer can take possession of the property forthwith. As per Rule 5(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering (Taking Possession of Attached or Frozen Properties confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2013, only ten days’ notice is liable to be given before possession of the immovable property is taken by the Authorised Officer.

The single judge bench of Justice M.Pratibha Singh held that in order to avoid a dispute in the future and to ensure fairness and non-arbitrariness, the Registrar of the Adjudicating Authority under the PMLA shall ensure that in future, all orders passed by the Adjudicating Authority, apart from being served in accordance with the provisions of the Act, Rules, and Regulations, would also be uploaded on the website of the Adjudicating Authority within 48 hours from the date of the pronouncement. The Adjudicating Authority shall also fix a specific date for pronouncement of orders in open Court in terms of Regulation 27.

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