New Delhi, Mar 6 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would in April decide if its 2022 verdict upholding the Enforcement Directorate's powers to arrest and attach property under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act needs reconsideration.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said a three-judge bench was supposed to hear the matter and it was wrongly listed before it.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, agreed with the bench and asked it to post the hearing in April late or May first week.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, said the matter ought to be heard expeditiously by a three-judge bench.

Justice Surya Kant said he ordered listing the matter before a three-judge bench on the administrative side and wondered how it came before the two-judge bench.

"We will give you a specific date but this matter will not be heard before April end," Justice Surya Kant said.

The top court was hearing a batch of pleas seeking reconsideration of the July 27, 2022, verdict of a three-judge bench on certain parameters.

On July 27, 2022, the top court upheld the ED's powers of arrest and attachment of property involved in money laundering, search and seizure under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

In August 2022, the top court agreed to hear a plea seeking a review of its July 2022 verdict and observed that two aspects -- not providing an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and reversal of the presumption of innocence -- "prima facie" required reconsideration.

Observing it was a common world over that money laundering was a "threat" to the good functioning of a financial system, the apex court upheld the validity of certain provisions of the PMLA, underlining it is not an "ordinary offence".

The top court said authorities under the 2002 Act were "not police officers as such" and the ECIR couldn't be equated with an FIR under CrPC.

It had said supply of an ECIR copy in every case to the person concerned was not mandatory and it was enough if ED, at the time of arrest, disclosed the grounds of such arrest.

The verdict came on a batch of over 200 petitions filed by individuals and other entities questioning various provisions of the PMLA, a law which the opposition often claims is weaponised by the government to harass its political adversaries.

It said Section 45 of the PMLA, which deals with offences to be cognisable and non-bailable and have twin conditions for bail, was reasonable and did not suffer from the vice of arbitrariness or unreasonableness PTI MNL AMK

Enforcement Directorate powers face possible reconsideration; core PMLA provisions on arrest, attachment and ECIR under review. Reconsideration is to be decided in April on whether the 2022 three-judge judgment upholding the Enforcement Directorate's powers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act-authorising arrest, attachment of property, and search and seizure-should be reviewed. The 2022 ruling treated ED officers as distinct from police, held an ECIR is not equivalent to an FIR and need not be routinely supplied if arrest grounds are disclosed, and upheld provisions making offences cognisable and non-bailable with twin bail conditions.