In some relief to BRS leader K Kavitha, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday told the Supreme Court it will extend by 10 days the summons issued to her for appearance in the Delhi excise policy case.
The ED had issued the summons dated September 4 to Kavitha, the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, calling for her appearance at the agency’s Delhi office on Friday.
She approached the apex court with an application seeking directions to restrain the ED from calling her by way of notice or summons under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during the pendency of her petition that is being heard by the top court in which she has sought protection from coercive action by the anti-money laundering agency.
Section 50 of the PMLA deals with powers of authorities regarding summons, production of documents, to give evidence etc.
The application also sought a stay on the operation of the September 4 summons or any other summons and “all coercive measures relating thereto”.
The application came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia.
Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, who appeared for Kavitha along with advocate Nitesh Rana, told the bench while her previous petition is pending before the apex court, the ED has summoned the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC for September 15.
In her petition which is pending before the top court, Kavitha has sought protection from coercive action and challenged the summons issued earlier to her by the ED in the case.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, representing the ED, told the bench that Kavitha had appeared before the agency earlier and, if she has any difficulty, the date of summons will be extended.
“She has appeared twice. If she is busy, we will extend the date by another 10 days,” Raju told the bench.
When the court fixed September 26 for hearing Kavitha’s pending petition, her counsel urged the bench that the summons be deferred till then. “Do I need to record it or you will do it?” Justice Kaul asked Raju.