A Division Bench of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has recently directed the Appellate Tribunal to hear the application of the appellants for staying the order of attachment of the Adjudicating Authority and it was held that writ jurisdiction is not to be invoked to bypass the proceedings of Appellate/Adjudicating Authorities.
The Tribunal of PMLA had observed that it is not inclined to hear the appeals by the appellants urgently, where after the case had been posted before the appropriate Bench on 02.11.2022. That order by the Appellate Tribunal for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases (AT PMLA) was challenged by the appellant in the present appeal.
It had been contended by learned counsel for the appellant that this Court while deciding the LPA that, the apprehension of the appellant relating to immediate action against them by the respondents is borne out from the record. But in spite of this, the learned Tribunal has declined to hear the appeals urgently.
It was observed by a division bench of the court in an LPA filed by the appellant, while dismissing it, that, the appellants cannot bypass the remedy of appeal by invoking writ jurisdiction of this Court simply by laying challenge to the proceedings which are essentially offshoot of the order passed by the Adjudicating Authority which is appealable under Section 26 of the PMLA Act, 2002.
It was further observed that if at all the appellants apprehend immediate action against them by the respondents, which apprehension is borne out from the record, it is open to them to immediately approach the Appellate Authority and persuade the said Authority to stay the impugned order of attachment.
The appeal was thus disposed of, by the bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar and Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal, with a direction to the AT, PMLA to hear the application of the appellants urgently.
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