SC issues notice to ED in coalgate

The Supreme Court today issued notice to Enforcement Directorate seeking its response on what action it has taken against various accused involved in coal block allocation scam.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice R M Lodha passed the order on a plea seeking direction to ED to probe and take action against accused under Prevention of Money Laundering Act(PMLA).
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for one of the petitioners on whose plea the apex court is monitoring the probe, submitted that the ED and the CBI should act simultaneously like they did in 2G scam and urged the bench to monitor ED probe also.

"According to the information available from reliable sources, the ED has till date registered only 5 to 7 cases under the PMLA in the coal scam case, whereas the CBI has registered over 14 FIRs.
"As per the scheme of the PMLA, which deals with the proceeds of a crime, the coal blocks/mining leases in question are liable to be attached under Section 5 of the PMLA in view of the fact that the allocation of the blocks allegedly involved the commission of offences scheduled under the PMLA," he submitted.
He contended that the ED must be asked to explain the status of its investigations in the coal block allocation cases.

The bench after hearing his arguments issued notice to the ED asking it to file response by January 15 when the case will be taken up for hearing.