"Will Extend Date Of Summons To KCR's Daughter": Probe Agency To Court

In some relief to Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha, the Enforcement Directorate told the Supreme Court on Friday that it will extend the summons issued to her for appearance in the Delhi excise policy case by 10 days.

The ED had issued the summons dated September 4 to Kavitha, the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, calling for her appearance at the agency's Delhi office on Friday.

She approached the Supreme Court with an application seeking directions to restrain the ED from calling her by way of notice or summons under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during the pendency of her petition that is being heard by the court in which she has sought protection from coercive action by the anti-money laundering agency.

Section 50 of the PMLA deals, among other things, with powers of authorities regarding summons, production of documents and giving evidence.

The application also sought a stay on the operation of the September 4 summons or any other summons and "all coercive measures relating thereto".

The application came up for hearing on Friday before a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia.

Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, who appeared for Ms Kavitha along with advocate Nitesh Rana, told the bench while her previous petition is pending before the top court, the ED has summoned the BRS MLC today.

In her petition, which is pending before the Supreme Court, Ms Kavitha has sought protection from coercive action and challenged the summons issued earlier to her by the ED in the case.

Mr Chaudhary said a petition filed by Nalini Chidambaram, a senior advocate and wife of Congress leader P Chidambaram, which deals with the similar issue of summoning women accused by the ED, is also pending before the court.

He said that, in the Nalini Chidambaram matter, the probe agency had said it would not insist on her appearance in a separate case.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, representing the ED, told the bench that Ms Kavitha had appeared before the agency earlier and, if she has any difficulty, the date of summons will be extended.

"She has appeared twice. If she is busy, we will extend the date by another 10 days," Mr Raju told the bench.

When the court fixed September 26 for hearing Mr Kavitha's pending petition, her counsel urged the bench that the summons be deferred till then.

"Do I need to record it or you will do it?" Justice Kaul asked Mr Raju. 

The ASG said ED will not press for summoning her for 10 more days or till the court hears the matter.

Ms Kavitha had said on Thursday that the ED notice issued to her in the case was politically motivated, and that the party's legal team would decide the future course of action.

The ED had summoned Ms Kavitha to its Delhi office on Friday for questioning in the case over her alleged involvement in certain irregularities. She is alleged to have links to the 'South Group', a cartel of businessmen and politicians, which allegedly paid kickbacks to the leaders of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in return for liquor licences.

It has been alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had paid bribes to AAP leaders, a charge the party has strongly denied.

In her fresh application filed before the Supreme Court, she has said despite her reservations and objections about the "procedure established by law being violated" and the pendency of her petition before the court, she has always chosen to comply with each and every summons issued by the ED and has also rendered all due assistance as desired.

Referring to the top court's July 28 order, the application said the court had categorically granted leave and directed that counter affidavits be filed within six weeks.

"Despite the lapse of six weeks from July 28, 2023, no counter affidavits have yet been filed. On the contrary, to the utmost shock, dismay and concern of the petitioner, she received a latest summons dated September 4, 2023, calling for appearance on September 15, 2023," it said.

The application said it is a matter of dismay and concern that summons has been issued at a stage when the petition is at an advanced stage of hearing before the Supreme Court. The plea said it is clear that there is a "blatant attempt to overreach" the proceedings before this court.

"In such circumstances, issuance of fresh summons to the petitioner after many months when this court is actively adjudicating the matter would tantamount to breach of propriety, protocol and discipline which is expected from any authority to be shown to the proceedings before the highest court of the country," it said.

Ms Kavitha has said in her application that the fresh summons has given rise to a "legitimate apprehension" in her mind that ED is acting on "certain considerations other than merit and thereby rendering free, fair or impartial investigation to be casualty".

She had earlier appeared before the ED in March for questioning and denied all allegations against her. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)