Delhi High Court sets aside transfer of PMLA case from judge who said "ED matters main kaun si bail hoti hai"

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday set aside an order passed by the Principal District and Sessions Judge of the Rouse Avenue Courts transferring the Bhushan steel money laundering case from the judge who allegedly remarked to the court staff, "ED (Enforcement Directorate) matters main kaun si bail hoti hai?(who gets bail in ED matters?)" [Directorate of Enforcement v. Ajay S Mittal]..Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said that the transfer of case from the judge was not required since the judge's comment did not reflect any bias on his part in favour of the ED.The High Court observed that the conversations between judges and their court staff are confidential. It said that dignity of judges must be preserved and transfer of cases in such a manner will undermine the confidence in judges.The High Court, therefore, directed that the matter be placed before the District Judge again who has to decide the transfer plea afresh after taking into account the High Court's observations..ED moves Delhi High Court against transfer of case from judge who said "ED matters main kaun si bail hoti hai?".The District & Sessions Judge at Rouse Avenue Court had passed an order on May 1 for the transfer of the case from Special Judge (PC Act) Jagdish Kumar to Special Judge (PC Act) Mukesh Kumar on a plea filed by Ajay S Mittal, one of the accused in the case.Principal District and Sessions Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna observed that Mittal’s apprehension of the judge's “probable bias” in favour of ED cannot be said to be misconceived or misplaced.“The matter is at its initial stage and no prejudice would be caused to the answering respondent, if case is heard by any other court of competent jurisdiction. Accordingly, it is felt appropriate to transfer the proceedings to some other court. The application of applicant is allowed,” Judge Chandna had said..It was Mittal’s case that his bail plea was listed for hearing before Judge Jagdish Kumar on April 10. On that date, the counsel sought time to prepare and the matter was adjourned to April 25.Mittal’s wife (also an accused in the case) was watching the proceedings, and once the counsel left the courtroom, the judge could be heard saying to the court staff, “lene do date, ED matters main kaun si bail hoti hai? (let them keep taking dates, where is the question of bail in ED cases?).”ED had opposed the transfer plea before the District & Sessions Judge and argued that Mittal had failed to demonstrate reasonable apprehension on the totality of all the facts.After the case was transferred, the agency moved the High Court..ED was represented in the case through its Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain and advocate Kartik Sabharwal.Senior Advocates Sandeep Sethi and Mohit Mathur along with advocates Sanyam Khetarpal, Deepak Goel and Shreya appeared for Ajay S Mittal. .[Read Judgement]