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TMI Blog2020 (12) TMI 703X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Private Secretary to the Chief Minister of Kerala. The Enforcement Directorate has issued summons to the petitioner under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 ('the Act', for short). Petitioner apprehends that on his appearance in response to the summons, he will be restrained for long hours and coerced into giving statements against his will. The petitioner therefore prays for a direction to the 2nd respondent to refrain from detaining the petitioner beyond reasonable time and to permit the presence of a legal practitioner during questioning. 2. The dates and events, as narrated in the writ petition, are as follows; Exhibit P1 summons was issued by the 2nd respondent, requiring the petitioner to appear in p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at he will be detained for long hours and made to give statements against his will, is well founded. It is pointed out that continuous interrogation for long hours will have adverse impact on the already weak health condition of the petitioner. It is submitted that, even if the presence of a lawyer during questioning is not allowed, there may at least be a direction to confine the questioning to a reasonable period of time. 5. The learned ASG raised preliminary objection regarding maintainability of the writ petition. It was contended that the writ petition is liable to be dismissed as premature since, mere issuance of summons under Section 50 of the Act does not give rise to any cause of action. In support of this contention reliance is p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... party unless the same has been issued by a person having no jurisdiction to do so. It is quite possible that after considering the reply to the show-cause notice or after holding an enquiry the authority concerned may drop the proceedings and/or hold that the charges are not established. It is well settled that a writ petition lies when some right of any party is infringed. A mere show-cause notice or charge-sheet does not infringe the right of anyone. It is only when a final order imposing some punishment or otherwise adversely affecting a party is passed, that the said party can be said to have any grievance." The decision of the High Court of Delhi in Virbhadra Singh and Another v. Directorate of Enforcement and Another [2017 SCC Onlin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e his argument with reference to the comfort part, but continued to maintain that the appellant is entitled to the company of his choice during the questioning. The purpose of the enquiry under the Customs Act and the other similar statutes will be completely frustrated if the whims of the persons in possession of useful information for the departments are allowed to prevail. For achieving the object of such an enquiry if the appropriate authorities be of the view that such persons should be dissociated from the atmosphere and the company of persons who provide encouragement to them in adopting a non-cooperative attitude to the machineries of law, there cannot be any legitimate objection in depriving them of such company. The relevant provi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... summons is issued under Section 50(2) of the Act. A person issued with summons is bound to attend in person or through authorised agents, as the officer issuing the summons directs, and is bound to state the truth upon any subject respecting which he is examined or makes statements and to produce such documents as may be required. As held by the Apex Court in Kirit Shrimankar, no cause of action arises merely for reason of a person being called upon to state the truth or to make statements and produce documents. I am unable to accept the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner that the cause of action is based on the repeated summoning of the petitioner in spite of his illness, which gave rise to the reasonable apprehension tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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