SC notice to Centre on Jairam Ramesh's plea against amendments in PMLA

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Centre on a plea filed by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh challenging the Centre's amendments made to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) since 2015.

A top court bench headed by Justice SA Bobde sought a response from the Centre on an appeal filed by Ramesh against the Delhi High Court order by which his plea was dismissed in February this year.

The High Court had dismissed Ramesh's appeal on February 28.

Senior advocate P Chidambaram appearing for Ramesh told the Bench that the amendments were done in violation of the Constitution as they were enacted as money bills.

Chidambaram argued that the UPA government at the Centre had passed such amendments as an ordinary bill, while the present government had passed such amendments as money bills.

Ramesh in his plea before the Delhi High Court had contended that the amendments made to the PMLA Act were "unconstitutional and illegal" as they have no relation to the money bill provisions enumerated in Article 110 of the Constitution.