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2016 (6) TMI 57

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....ing Act, 2002 (PMLA) issued by the respondent Financial Intelligence Unit - India, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance of the Government of India to each of the three petitioners namely Shri Joseph Massey, Shri Shreekant Javalgekar and Shri Jignesh Shah and seeks compensation for causing mental and physical harassment to the petitioners. 2. It is the case of the petitioners (i) that the respondent which is a statutory body enacted under the PMLA, vide order dated 4th November, 2015 held the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) to be guilty of failing in several obligations under the PMLA and imposed a total fine of Rs. 1,66,00,000/- on NSEL and directed NSEL to register itself as a reporting entity under the PMLA; (ii) that purport....

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.... (IV) Secretary, Ministry of Defence Vs. Prabhash Chandra Mirdha (2012) 11 SCC 565; (V) Shri Anant R. Kulkarni Vs. Y.P. Education Society (2013) 6 SCC 515; (VI) Arun Kumar Mishra Vs. Union of India (2014) 208 DLT 56; (VII) Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. Vs. India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. MANU/DE/1034/2013 (SLP(C) No.27110/2013 whereagainst was dismissed in limine on 13th September, 2013), laying down/holding: (a) that against a mere issuance of show cause notice, the Court should be reluctant to interfere as a mere show cause notice does not infringe right of anyone and hence writ jurisdiction should not ordinarily be exercised by quashing a show cause notice, as it does not amount to adverse order, unless the show cause no....

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.... proceed against the three petitioners, ought to have proceeded against them along with NSEL only and there can be no piecemeal proceedings; (iv) parity was drawn with Section 142 of the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act, 1881; (v) Gorkha Security Services supra lays down that the fundamental purpose behind serving a show cause notice is to make the noticee understand the precise case set up against him which he has to meet and argued that the impugned show cause notices are deficient in this respect; (vi) that under Section 70(1) of the PMLA action can be taken only against such of the Directors who were in charge of and were responsible to the guilty company for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company and the....

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.... (2004) 3 SCC 440 also deprecating the practise of entertaining writ petitions questioning legality of the show cause notices resulting in stalling enquiries as proposed and retarding investigative process to find actual facts with the participation and in the presence of the parties; (h) argued that the petitioners will have opportunity before the respondent to raise all the pleas; (i) contended that the respondent could have proceeded against NSEL as well as the petitioners together but having not proceeded against the petitioners along with NSEL, there is no bar thereto at this stage also; (j) that the respondent is yet to reach the stage of returning finding and no interference is warranted at this stage. 6. The senior counsel fo....

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....sued to the Director to be vague and thus bad; (C) Ajay Bagaria Vs. Union of India 2008 (103) DRJ 324 holding the requirement of minimum averments against Directors, as laid down in cases of NI Act, applicable to Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 also; (D) Commissioner of Central Excise, Bangalore Vs. Brindavan Beverages (P) Ltd. (2007) 5 SCC 388 quashing the show cause notice for the reason of being unspecific and vague; (E) Anand Brothers Private Limited Vs. Union of India (2014) 9 SCC 212 laying down recording of reasons to be essential; (F) L.P. Desai Vs. Union of India 2003 (71) DRJ 553 laying down that unless the information is clearly conveyed to the noticee, he would not be in a position to make a proper representation. ....

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.... a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India against a show cause notice, taking into consideration the gravity / magnitude of charges involved therein and that the Court has to consider the seriousness and magnitude of the charges and while doing so must weigh all the facts, both for and against the delinquent officers and come to a conclusion which is just and proper considering the circumstances involved. This Court has in Farida Begum Biswas Vs. Union of India (2015) SCC Online Del. 11834 and SRJ Infratech Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Director Directorate of Enforcement 2016 SCC Online Del. 221 also refused to interfere in show cause notices under the PMLA. 11. Having seen the matter in this light and having gone through the contents of....