The court ruled that it cannot condone delay beyond 120 days in appeals under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, as Section 5 of the Limitation Act is expressly excluded.

JUDGMENT :

[Per: B. P. COLABAWALLA, J ]

1. The above Appeal is filed under Section 42 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 [for short the “PMLA, 2002”] by the Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement, challenging the order dated 4th July 2018 passed by the Appellate Tribunal [constituted under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002], in FPA-PMLA-2178/AHD/2018. By the impugned order, the Appellate Tribunal allowed the Appeal filed by the Respondent-Bank against the order of the Adjudicating Authority confirming the Provisional Order of the Attachment levied [under Section 5 of the PMLA, 2002] by the Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Surat.

2. Since there is a delay in filing the Appeal, the above Interim Application is also filed seeking a condonation of delay. Though in the Interim Application, the period of delay is not mentioned, on the basis of the lists of dates and events tendered to this Court on 9th December 2024, the delay mentioned is 132 days.

3. As recorded in our order dated 9th December, 2024, we had noted that the issue involved in the present case is whether the Court has the power to condone the delay beyond the total period of 120 days [sixty days being the prescribed period and a further period of sixty days being the grace period] as stipulated in Section 42 of the PMLA, 2002, read with its proviso. In order to decide the aforesaid issue, it would be apposite to refer to certain admitted facts which are relevant for the present purposes.

4. The present Applicant/Appellant is working as the Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Surat, Sub-Zonal Office, Surat. The Joint Director of the Directorate of Enforcement, Ahmedabad Zonal office, Ahmedabad, had filed Original Complaint No. 805 of 2017 [under Section 5(5) of the PMLA, 2002] in respect of Provisional Attachment Order No.4 of 2017 dated 17th July 2017. This provisional attachment was also levied under Section 5(1) of the PMLA, 2002.

5. It is the case of the Appellant that after going through all the documents and evidence, the Adjudication Authority confirmed the Provisional Attachment Order [dated 17th July 2017] vide its order dated 28th December 2017. This confirmation was done under Section 8 of the PMLA, 2002.

6. Being aggrieved by the order of the Adjudicating Authority dated 28th December 2017, the Respondent-Bank, on 15th February 2018, preferred an Appeal before the Appellate Tribunal under Section 26 of the PMLA, 2002. This Appeal filed by the Respondent-Bank was heard on 4th April 2018 and the Judgment was pronounced by the Appellate Tribunal on 4th July 2018. The Appellate Tribunal allowed the Appeal filed by the Respondent- Bank and inter-alia set aside the order of the Adjudicating Authority dated 28th December 2017 and the Provisional Attachment Order dated 17th July 2017.

7. Being aggrieved by this decision of the Appellate Tribunal, the Appellant herein initially preferred an Appeal under Section 42 of the PMLA, 2002 before the High Court of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, being First Appeal No. 4151 of 2018. Since there was a delay of approximately five days [beyond the initial period of sixty days] in preferring the Appeal, the Appellant herein also filed an application for condonation of delay. The delay was accordingly condoned by the Gujarat High Court vide its order dated 28th June 2019.

8. Eventually, when the Appeal was being argued before the Gujarat High Court, it was realized that by virtue of the Explanation (ii) of Section 42, the Appeal would lie before the High Court of Bombay. In these circumstances, on 20th September 2023, the Appellant withdrew the Appeal before the Gujarat High Court with liberty to approach the appropriate High Court. Thereafter, the above First Appeal was lodged in this Court on 30th January 2024.

9. It is the case of the Appellant [in the list of dates and events tendered to the Court on 9th December 2024] that there is a delay of 132 days in approaching this Court after the Appellant withdr