Supreme Court: Can PMLA authority confirm attachment orders without judicial member on board?

Supreme Court: Can PMLA authority confirm attachment orders without judicial member on board?

Key points

• 3 min read New Delhi Sep 16, 2026 04: 34 AM IST.
• This person appeared for the ED, how there would be proper application of mind in such a scenario.

Supreme Court: Can PMLA authority confirm attachment orders without judicial member on board? Appearing for the petitioners, Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhri contended that the AA is performing a quasi-judicial function and not an administrative one as it has to decide a provisional attachment within 180 days. By: Express News Service.

Justice Bagchi asked Extra Solicitor General Anil Kaushik. This person appeared for the ED, how there would be proper application of mind in such a scenario.

Notably, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked whether there would be proper application of mind if only one member sits on the Adjudicating Authority (AA) bench confirming orders of attachment created by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Capital Laundering Act, given the workload.

Meanwhile, a three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant posed the query as it reserved its decision on whether the AA can confirm confiscation of assets without a judicial member on board and whether it can sit as a single-member bench.

With the petitioners contending that only a small proportion of the cases booked by the ED is sent for trial while attachments would have applied in all booked cases, the bench, additionally comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, asked the agency to furnish data in this regard.

In short, supreme Court: Can PMLA authority confirm attachment orders without judicial member on is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.