The Supreme Court has upheld the amendments to PMLA with a caveat that it must be used judiciously

In a significant judgment, the Supreme Court has upheld the amendments made to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by parliament. The judgment backs the amendments almost in letter and spirit but with a caveat that PMLA is a law against the "scourge of money laundering" and not a hatchet wielded against rival politicians and dissenters.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has now absolute powers to summons, arrest, and raid the premises. It also makes bail difficult as the onus is on the accused rather than the prosecution to prove the innocence.

To be fair, the Supreme Court has only ratified the law and not made it. So it cannot be criticized for the provisions in the PMLA. It is also in line with the government's contention to check the generation and hoarding of black money which is indeed a big impediment to the progress of any country. Indeed no enforcement agency ED included cannot work effectively without powers to back its investigations and actions.

The laws with which ED is armed are not an issue. The issue however, is the use of ED itself, or shall we say misuse of ED?Going by the statistics, most of the cases ED has taken up concern the politicians or the leaders of opposition parties to be precise.

 Black money is rampant in the country. Several businessmen, bureaucrats, professionals, realtors, NGOs, and even the so-called Godmen, despite several allegations do not figure on ED's radar.

The ED recorded 5422 cases for investigation under PMLA. It arrested 400 persons in this connection. But only 25 people were convicted making its success rate almost negligible. It means that either it does not investigate and prepare the cases properly or it has no will to take the cases forward. The process is punishment and that is it.

We have seen several people run away with hoards of money and ED had no clue about their moves or existence. This gives the widely held perception that ED is being used by its political masters to harass, humiliate and settle scores with the political rivals. This indeed goes beyond the scope of ED's mandate. That is unfortunately not the best use of such an empowered government agency.