In that decision, the five-judge Bench
of this Court affirmed the Full Bench decision in New India Assurance
Company Limited v. Union of India AIR 2010 Del 43 (FB) after noting that
the Full Bench had held that: ―...as the appellate authority is situate in New
Delhi, the Delhi High Court has the jurisdiction under Article 226 of the
Constitution of India and, therefore, there was no occasion for the learned
Single Judge to apply the principle of forum non conveniens to refuse
exercise of jurisdiction‖.
61. Later, in Union of India v. Dilip Kumar (supra), the Supreme Court
reiterated, ―it is settled law that a proviso does not travel beyond the
provision to which it is a proviso.‖ Therefore, there has to be a satisfaction
that the ‗proceeds of crime' are likely to be concealed, transferred or dealt
with in a manner that might frustrate the confiscation proceedings under the
PMLA. This is, therefore, another safeguard as far as the second proviso to
Section 5(1) PMLA is concerned.
72. Reasons to believe cannot be a rubber stamping of the opinion already
formed by someone else. The officer who is supposed to write down his
reasons to believe has to independently apply his mind. Further, and more
importantly, it cannot be a mechanical reproduction of the words in the
statute. When an authority judicially reviewing such a decision peruses such
reasons to believe, it must be apparent to the reviewing authority that the
officer penning the reasons has applied his mind to the materials available
on record and has, on that basis, arrived at his reasons to believe. The
process of thinking of the officer must be discernible. The reasons have to
be made explicit. It is only the reasons that can enable the reviewing
authority to discern how the officer formed his reasons to believe. As
explained in Oriental Insurance Company v. Commissioner of Income Tax
[2015] 378 ITR 421 (Delhi), ―the prima facie formation of belief should be
rational, coherent and not ex facie incorrect and contrary to what is on
record‖.