Ministry of Finance: Adds seven Karnataka PMLA court entries

The Central Government has added seven court entries in Karnataka to its notification designating courts for money-laundering trials. The Ministry of Finance’s Department of Revenue issued notification S.O. 5756(E) on 23 October 2026, stating that the amendment was made in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.

Published in the Gazette of India on the same date, the notification invokes Section 43(1) of the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). It adds entries for judicial offices in Bengaluru, Dharwad, Kalaburagi and Mangaluru, with a district-wise territorial remit specified against each.

The amendment concerns the designation of courts, not a judgment in a money-laundering case. The Department of Revenue’s overview of the PMLA explains that the law provides for courts of sessions to be designated as Special Courts to try offences punishable under it. In this context, designation means authorising a sessions court to exercise that trial function.

The ministry’s operative direction is to insert the entries after the existing entries in columns (3) and (4) against serial number 13, which relates to Karnataka. It does not direct that the existing Karnataka entries be replaced or deleted.

Courts and districts listed in the amendment

For Bengaluru, the notification adds the XLIX Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge. Its territorial list comprises Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapura, Tumakuru, Kolar, Mysuru, Ramanagara, Chamarajanagara, Hassan, Mandya, Chitradurga and Davanagere districts.

The ministry lists two judicial offices at Dharwad, but their district coverage is not identical.

The Principal District and Sessions Judge, Dharwad, is listed for Dharwad, Belagavi, Gadag, Koppal, Ballari, Haveri, Bagalkot, Uttara Kannada and Vijayanagara districts. The III Additional District and Sessions Judge, Dharwad, is listed for those same districts and also Davanagere.

That difference matters when reading the territorial entries: the notification includes Davanagere against both the Bengaluru court and the III Additional District and Sessions Judge at Dharwad, but not against the Principal District and Sessions Judge at Dharwad. The document does not explain the reason for this distinction.

At Kalaburagi, the notification adds the Principal District and Sessions Judge and the I Additional District and Sessions Judge. Both entries carry the same territorial list: Kalaburagi, Bidar, Vijayapura, Yadgir and Raichur districts.

At Mangaluru, it adds the Principal District and Sessions Judge and the VI Additional District and Sessions Judge. Each is listed for Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu-Madikeri districts, using the district descriptions in the notification’s English text.

These are designations of judicial offices rather than appointments of named individuals. The ministry’s table identifies each court by its office and location, followed by the districts covered. It does not name the judges occupying those offices.

What the designation changes

The Department of Revenue’s PMLA overview distinguishes the Special Court’s trial role from the functions of investigating and adjudicating authorities. It states that certain officers of the Directorate of Enforcement are empowered to investigate money-laundering offences and attach property involved in money laundering.

Attachment is a restriction on dealing with property. Section 2(1)(d) of the PMLA, in the text published on India Code, defines it as a prohibition on the transfer, conversion, disposition or movement of property through an order under the Act’s attachment provisions.

The Department of Revenue separately describes an Adjudicating Authority and an Appellate Tribunal within the statutory framework. The court entries in the latest notification concern the Special Court mechanism, rather than appointments to either of those bodies or a change to the Enforcement Directorate’s investigative powers.

The practical effect established by the amendment is therefore an addition to the court-designation table, with territorial coverage attached to each added office. The notification does not amend the definition of money laundering or set out a change in punishment.

Nor does it identify individual prosecutions, order the transfer of named cases or prescribe a timetable for disposing of pending trials. Although several added entries cover the same districts, the document does not state how cases will be allocated between courts with overlapping territorial coverage. The district lists establish the scope of the designations, not a case-by-case roster.

Earlier notification’s date differs between language versions

The ministry describes the measure as a further amendment to notification S.O. 372(E). Its English text, including the closing note, dates that principal notification to 5 February 2016. The Hindi text instead gives 5 February 2026 in both places.

The two language versions agree that the preceding amendment was S.O. 5082(E), dated 16 September 2026. The latest notification is signed by Rajeev Lochan, Under Secretary in the Department of Revenue.

The discrepancy concerns the year of the principal notification being amended, not the date of the present amendment. S.O. 5756(E) is dated 23 October 2026 in both versions, but the Gazette document does not reconcile its conflicting references to the earlier notification.