The opposition has collectively decided to move the Supreme Court with a review petition against the recent Supreme Court verdict upholding the amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Opposition’s demand will be to nullify the amendments to the Act made in 2019 through the money Bill route.
Briefing reporters after the two-day central committee meeting of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) here on Monday, the party’s general secretary Sitaram Yechury said Opposition parties will jointly take up the issue with the Supreme Court. He said the judgment must be reviewed and all amendments made in 2019 should be nullified. “It is a collective decision by the opposition,” Mr. Yechury said. A joint statement of the opposition on the matter is expected on Tuesday.
The CPI(M) leader said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are increasingly functioning as a political arm of the Modi government in destabilising democratically elected State governments and targeting opposition leaders. “The recent judgment of the Supreme Court Bench headed by a judge who retired shortly thereafter, upheld all the 2019 amendments to the PMLA, lethally arming the ED further. This is a grievous assault on democracy,” he added.
