Supreme Court to hear pleas challenging 5 laws regarding protection granted to accused under CrPC , Constitution from May 1

The Supreme Court will hear from May 1, a batch of over 400 writ petitions challenging penal provisions under five laws in terms of their compatibility with protection entitled to an accused under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Constitution.

The Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Bela M Trivedi will hear from next Wednesday, the petitions challenging provisions of the Goods and Services Tax Act, the Customs Act, the Companies Act, the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

The above Bench is also slated to hear the case concerning the validity of provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The writ petitions challenging the GST Act have contended that the proceedings before the Directorate General of GST Intelligence become of a criminal nature without adequate safeguards.

One of the pleas contended that the power to arrest and prosecute was not ancillary and/or incidental to the power to levy and collect GST.

Further, Entry 93 of List I conferred jurisdiction upon the Parliament to make criminal laws only with respect to the matters in List I and not GST. Article 20(3) protection was not available to a person summoned under Section 70 11. There was no protection available to the summoned person under Article 20(3) of the Constitution, it pointed out.

The pleas challenging provisions of the Companies Act have assailed the powers and procedure of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in this regard. They stated that the conditions for bail under the Act were unreasonable, drastic and contrary to the presumption of innocence.

The petitions challenging the penalties and prosecution prescribed under the Black Money Act primarily assailed Sections 54 and 55 of the Act.

Section 54 of the Act provided for the presumption of culpable mental state on the part of the accused contrary to the generally accepted principle of innocent until proven guilty. Section 55 of the Act provided for prosecution by the Principal Commissioner without following the processes under the CrPC.

The writ pleas against both the Customs Act and the FCRA challenged the proceedings before the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence for being violative of the protections available to an accused under the CrPC and the Constitution.

The petitioners challenging provisions of the Customs Act have appointed Advocates Ashish Batra and Vivek Gurnani as nodal counsels.

Advocates Malak Bhatt and Kanu Agrawal would appear for the petitioners against the Companies Act, while Advocates Rajat Mittal and Annam Venkatesh would represent those challenging the (Central) Goods and Services Tax Act. Advocates Karan Bharioke and Vivek Gurnani would represent the petitioners challenging the Black Money law.