ED Arrested Two People In Madhya Pradesh, E-tender Scam Case

ED arrested two people in Madhya Pradesh e-tender scam case. In Madhya Pradesh, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested two people on charges of money laundering in an alleged e-tender scam of Rs 3,000 crore.

The agency said on Wednesday that Srinivas Raju Mantena, founder and chairman of Mantena Constructions, and Aditya Tripathi of his associate Amy Infra of Bhopal have been arrested.

The court has remanded the duo to judicial custody till February 3, according to the ED. In this case, several senior government officials and several IT officials of Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation Limited, including IT services, were allegedly arrested by several Hyderabad-based infrastructure companies.

Fraud in e-tender by collusion with the provider and illegally acquired huge contract.

In the FIR filed by the Economic Offenses Wing of the State Police in April 2019, Max Mantena, Micro JV Hyderabad, GVPR Engineers Limited Hyderabad, etc. have been named the main beneficiaries in this alleged scam. A money laundering case has been registered in this case.

Petition for reconsideration rejected in Supreme Court

The Supreme Court, in its Aadhaar-related 2018 order, has dismissed all petitions seeking review. In the said order, the Aadhar scheme of the Central Government was given constitutional validity. But the requirement of Aadhaar number in a bank account, mobile phone, and school admission was abolished.

A five-judge bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar delivered a four-to-one verdict. Justice DY Chandrachud disagreed with the decision of his four colleagues to uphold the September 26, 2018 decision.

He said that reconsideration petitions should be pending and the larger bench should consider the demand for consideration on the basis of a Finance Bill.

In 2018 also, Justice Chandrachud disagreed with the Aadhaar order of the apex court. Even then, he objected to the Aadhar Bill not being passed like a Finance Bill. For this, he argued that if money was lost through this, then who would be responsible.

The latest decision taken on the basis of the majority stated that the current reconsideration petition is against the decision of September 26, 2018.

We believe that no change is needed in the 2018 decision. Therefore, there is no need to refer the matter to a larger bench.

Petitions for change of prior order are dismissed. The four judges who ordered the reconsideration petitions to be dismissed included Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice S Abdul Nazir, and Justice BR Gavai.

The bench also rejected the request for a hearing in open court. While Justice Chandrachud in his separate order regretted his inability to do so after the majority verdict.

Justice Chandrachud raised two legal questions citing the earlier decision of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the decision of the Constitution Bench in September 2019. These decisions strengthen the Aadhaar-related bill to be a Finance Bill