Important Point-Attachment/freezing of bank account should not continue or remain in operation for an indefinite period of time.

By this writ-application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner seeks to challenge the action on the part of the respondent no.2 in getting the personal savings bank account of the petitioner maintained with the ICICI Bank, Satellite Branch, Ahmedabad, bearing No.006701515904 freezed/attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 (for short, ‘PMLA’).

The facts giving rise to this application are as under :

A First Information Report being CR.I-17 of 2014 came to be registered with the Satellite Police Station, Ahmedabad, for the offence punishable under Sections 406, 420, 465, 468, 471 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code. The First Information Report was lodged by one Shri Sanjeevbhai Pravinchandra Shah against (1) Ms.Sejalben Gopalbhai Shah, (2) Shri Mit Gopalbhai Shah, (3) Shri Milan Dilipbhai Suthar, (4) Shri Hiren Dilipbhai Suthar, (5) Shri Kalpesh Dilipbhai Parmar, (6) Shri Ashokbhai Amarsingh Makwana and (7) Shri Tarang R.Dave.

Shri Mit Gopalbhai Shah (A-2) and Ms. Sejalben Gopalbhai Shah (A-1) are the son and daughter respectively of the petitioner herein.

One FIR was registered alleging cheating in the sale of the immovable properties which were running in the name of the first informant and his brother on the basis of a forged Power of Attorney. The FIR led to filing of a Regular Case No.ECIR/02/AZO/2014/1413 by the Directorate of Enforcement, Ahmedabad, on 27th March 2014 for the offence punishable under Sections 120B, 417, 420, 467 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code, which are scheduled offences as defined under Section 2(y) of the PMLA. A provisional attachment order no.13 of 2014 was passed on 28th November 2014 by the Directorate of Enforcement in exercise of his powers under Section 5 of the PMLA on the premise that the proceeds of crime generated by the accused named in the FIR to the tune of Rs.28,59,600.00 was by way of money laundering. An amount of Rs.2,80,000.00 was transferred in the account of the petitioner maintained by her with the ICICI Bank referred to above and Rs.15,00,000.00 in the account of one Shri Jayeshbhai Patel.

It is the case of the Department that the proceeds of crime were further used to purchase three properties : (i) Survey No.1235, A/c No.1165 admeasuring agriculture land of area 4249 sq.m. in village Daran, Taluka Kadi, District Mehsana for consideration of Rs.8,50,000.00; (ii) Survey No.1229/1, A/c No.1003 admeasuring agriculture land of area 4117 sq.m. in village Daran, Taluka Kadi, District Mehsana for consideration of Rs.8,23,500.00; and (iii) A/c No.263, in Survey No./Block No.888 (Old Survey/Block No.195/1) admeasuring agriculture land of area 12200 sq.m. for consideration of Rs.80,00,000.00 for which POC of Rs.8,78,000.00 was utilized hence approximately 10% of the total land of 12200 sq.m. i.e. 1220 sq.m. was purchased through POC.

The petitioner herein learnt, after being informed by the ICICI Bank vide letter dated 1st September 2014, that there was an enforcement order from FEMA and PMLA, Revenue Department, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, for marking a debit freeze in the account running in her name. The debit freeze had been marked on 27th August 2014. On 10th September 2014, the petitioner addressed a representation to the Enforcement Directorate, Ahmedabad, requesting to remove the attachment of the bank account and permit her to operate the same.

Since the order of attachment was not revoked by the respondent no.2, the petitioner thought fit to file the present writ-application.

I. Submissions on behalf of the Petitioner :

Mr. Bhadrish S. Raju, the learned advocate appearing for the petitioner, vehemently submitted that his client is an educated lady living an independent life, and during her spare time, trades in equities. In the year 2007, she became a widow. He has submitted that his client is capable of handling her account entirely on her own and has a requisite knowledge of the banking transactions.