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Karnatak: The Karnataka High Court recently rejected the writ petition by Chinese technology company Xiaomi challenging an order of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seizing seizing ₹5,551.27 crore from its bank accounts. [Xiaomi Technology India Pvt Ltd v. Union of India]
In an order passed on April 21, Justice M Nagaprasanna noted that Xiaomi India’s challenge to the seizure under Article 14 of the Constitution was not maintainable as Article 14 is person-centric and applies to individuals.
This was Xiaomi’s second round of legal action against the ED’s move. It had moved the High Court shortly after the ED confiscated its funds in April this year. In May, the Court had allowed it to use the bank accounts only to meet its day-to-day expenses and to take overdraft from the seized bank accounts to make payments to overseas businesses, except royalty payments.
Later, in July, the Court disposed of the petition, noting that ED had already submitted the seizure order to the competent authority for confirmation. The Court had granted the competent authority 60 days to rule on the ED’s action.
