Former Chief Minister and NC President Farooq Abdullah has approached Jammu and Kashmir High Court, challenging the jurisdiction of the enforcement directorate (ED) to attach his property in alleged financial irregularities case of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).
“It is settled principle of law that no person can be prosecuted on the allegation which occurred earlier by applying the provision of law which has come into force after the alleged incident. In other words, there can be no retrospective application of criminal liability for the incident that occurred prior to the introduction of such liability in the statute book. Admittedly, prior to Amendment Act, 2009, none of the provisions which are now invoked by the Enforcement Directorate were on the statute book except Section 467 IPC. Thus, the petitioner cannot be prosecuted by invoking those provisions,” the petition reads.
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The petition states that Farooq Abdullah's ancestral and family properties in Jammu and Kashmir have been illegally attached by the ED. He said the ED had no jurisdiction to do the same.
The petitioner says his attached properties are admittedly unrelated to the alleged criminal activity mentioned in the FIR and is a continuing violation of his fundamental rights.
The State of Jammu & Kashmir was governed by the Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir, 1956 and had a special status in terms of Article 370 of the Constitution of India on the date of the registration of the Enforcement Commission Information Report (ECIF) and the initiation of the investigation, says the NC President
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“The PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) was not a law that could extend to the jurisdiction of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, as the Parliament was not having legislative competence to enact the said law in terms of the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954,” says the petitioner.
The ED attached properties of Dr Farooq in Kashmir and in Jammu, and alleged that they were the proceeds of crime in a scam related to the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association in December.
The petitioner further states that JKCA is a society registered under the Jammu and Kashmir Societies Registration Act, and is governed by the Rules of the Jammu and Cricket Association, 1957.
“All properties attached by the ED are either ancestral or acquired by the petitioner prior to the date of the alleged offenses. The attached properties were acquired prior to the alleged commission of the offenses and hence were not involved in any alleged money-laundering or related criminal activity”.
