New Delhi: The 17 Opposition parties expressed their concern on the Supreme Court judgement to enhance the powers of ED that can be exercised by the ED during the course of various investigations.

17 Opposition parties on Wednesday issued a joint statement, saying the judgment should have awaited the verdict of a larger bench for examining the constitutionality of the Finance Act route to carry out amendments. This comes after ED raids against several Opposition leaders and the office of the National Herald in Delhi.

The joint statement was signed by the Opposition parties, including TMC, Congress, DMK, AAP, Shiv Sena, NCP, CPI-M, CPI, IUML, RSP, MDMK, RJD and RLD. Alleging that the amendments have made it more conducive for the Government to engage in political vendetta, the joint statement said the judgment will have the long-term implications of the recent.

Both the Houses of Parliament also saw protests with the Opposition raising misuse of investigative agencies by the government to target party leaders. The Lok Sabha saw repeated adjournments over the issue while in Rajya Sabha opposition MPs from Congress, Shiv Sena and AAP gave notices to discuss misuse of central agencies but were turned down by Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu.

We are also very disappointed that the highest judicial authority, invited to give an independent verdict on the lack of checks and balances in the Act, has virtually reproduced arguments given by the executive in support of draconian amendments. We hope that the dangerous verdict will be short lived and constitutional provisions will prevail soon, it further added.

SC on 22^nd July had upheld several provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act-2002, allowing the ED to retain a lot of brazen powers, including that of arrest, attachment, search and seizure.