The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Congress MP Karti P. Chidambaram, seeking his response to a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging the Delhi High Court`s decision to defer the framing of charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the Chinese visa scam and Aircel-Maxis deal cases.

The order was passed by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, who stated that the High Court acted a little prematurely in its decision to defer the PMLA charge proceedings. The Court was of the view that a predicate offence trial could have been allowed to take place.

The Delhi High Court had, in its decision, underscored the need for careful examination of whether proceedings under the PMLA can progress to the framing of charges before charges in the predicate offence are formally established.