Waste of time and stationery: Supreme Court imposes ₹1 lakh costs on ED officer for appealing against cancer patient's bail

The Supreme Court recently came down on the Enforcement Directorate for filing a special leave petition (SLP) against an order of the Allahabad High Court granting bail to a cancer patient. (Assistant Director ED v. Kamal Ahsan and anr).A Bench of Justices MR Shah and MM Sundresh imposed ₹1 lakh exemplary costs on the concerned officer who gave permission to file the plea, and dismissed the case. "In the peculiar facts and circumstance of the case and taking into consideration the fact that the respondent is suffering from Malignancy and Cancer and thereafter when he has been released on bail, the same is not required to be interfered by this court...The Department ought not to have filed such a Special Leave Petition wasting the stationery, the legal fees and Court’s time.".The sum is to be recovered from the salary of the officer, and deposited by the ED with the Supreme Court Registry within four weeks.The costs were directed to be divided and transferred equally to the National Legal Services Authority and the top court's Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee..The respondent, Kamal Ahsan, was a relationship manager at Axis Bank in Prayagraj. He was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court in November last year in connection with a 2013 complaint.The ED had in 2017 registered a case against him after he was first granted bail for the offences of cheating, among others. He was arrested in December 2020 for offences punishable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.The alleged offence was of siphoning, through bank accounts of relatives, over ₹22 crore belonging to the State-aided Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences..His counsel had submitted before the High Court that he underwent an oral cancer operation in 2019, and also suffered from diabetes and fistula. Justice Rahul Chaturvedi of the High Court, while granting bail, had noted that the applicant 'cannot be put behind the bars for unlimited period'. The bail was subject to Ahsan cooperating with the probe, not tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses, depositing his passport with the Court and not leaving the country without its permission. .Before the top court, the ED was represented by Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj with Advocates Zoheb Hossain, Kanu Agarwal, Vivek Gupta, Mukesh Kumar Maroria and Nakul Chengappa KK..[Read order]