The apex court on Tuesday sought Centre’s reply on Congress MP Jairam Ramesh’s plea challenging modifications made to the anti-money laundering law (PMLA) since 2015.

Ramesh has said in the plea that Money Bill was a special kind of bill that could be introduced only in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha could not amend or reject it.

“Hence, the provisions of a Money Bill must be perceived very strictly and carefully and only if a bill falls strictly under the definition of a Money Bill [as defined under Article 110 (1)], can it be passed as a Money Bill. If the provisions of the bill fall outside the strict definition of Money Bill, the said bill cannot be passed as a Money Bill,” the plea said.

Jairam approached the apex court after his plea was rejected by the Delhi High Court in February.

Dismissing Ramesh’s plea, the high court had questioned the timing of filing the plea as the Centre had made the amendments in 2015 and he was filing the plea in 2019.

To which Ramesh’s counsel had told the court that he was not aware of the modifications made through these stipulations earlier and when he researched the matter, he found out that it can be exploited and so he approached the court.

—India Legal Bureau