NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has set aside the confiscation of properties belonging to Accord Distilleries & Breweries Private Limited and its directors including DMK’s five-time MP, S Jagathrakshakan, his son J Sundeep Anand and his daughter, after noting that the proceedings under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) had been vitiated, rendering the action “arbitrary and contrary to law.”
Giving relief to Jagathrakshakan, the court observed that the confiscation order was legally unsustainable as the adjudicating authority proceeded on a fundamentally flawed premise, ignoring prior findings that went to the root of the case.
Disposing of the appeal filed by the appellants, the bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, in its judgment delivered on April 1, said, “We are of the opinion that the impugned order dated 23rd July, 2024 passed by the Division Bench of the HC and so also the order of the single judge of the HC dated 30th November, 2023, rejecting the writ petition preferred by the appellants and as a consequence, the final order dated 26th August, 2024 passed by the adjudicating authority imposing penalty and ordering confiscation of the property held by appellants are declared to be arbitrary and contrary to law."
"The same are hereby set aside. The proceedings are revived from the stage of the show cause notice (SCN).” Observing that the adjudicating authority has undone the order of the competent authority even while the appeal against the said order is pending, the bench said,” Such a course of action, in the opinion of this court, tantamount to abdicating the powers of the appellate authority, even when the order of the competent authority was still under challenge in appeal at the instance of the department,” the top court added.