ED moves Delhi High Court against transfer of case from judge who said "ED matters main kaun si bail hoti hai?"

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the transfer of the Bhushan Steel money laundering case from a judge who allegedly remarked "ED matters main kaun si bail hoti hai?(who gets bail in ED matters?)" [Directorate of Enforcement v. Ajay S Mittal]..Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma heard the matter on Friday and issued notice to the accused Ajay S Mittal. It was on Mittal's plea that the matter was transferred from Special Judge (PC Act) Jagdish Kumar to Special Judge (PC Act) Mukesh Kumar..Appearing for the ED before the High Court, Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain stated that there is something very serious in the case which needs to be looked into.Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur appeared for Mittal and said that while the High Court is seized of the matter, his bail plea may be heard by the trial court.Hossain opposed the request and said that if that happens, ED’s plea will become infructuous.Mathur also said that the ED did not serve his client a copy of the plea challenging the transfer.Hossain stated that the copy was served, but if Mathur has not received it, he will be served again.The Court then said that it will hear arguments in the case on May 22..The District & Sessions Judge at Rouse Avenue Court had passed an order on May 1 for the transfer of the case.The Court had 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 Anju Bajaj 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 for arguments 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..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.