The Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed proceedings against Congress leader P Chidambaram in a money-laundering case related to the alleged Aircel-Maxis scam, Bar and Bench reported.

Chidambaram had approached the High Court against the trial court’s decision to take cognisance of the chargesheet registered by the Enforcement Directorate against him in the matter, Live Law reported.

The former Union minister argued that the court could not have taken cognisance of the case without a sanction to prosecute him.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the approval given to a firm called Global Communication Holding Services to invest in the telecom company Aircel in 2006, when Chidambaram was the Union finance minister.

The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate are conducting an inquiry into the allegations. Both agencies claimed that the Congress leader received kickbacks for the approval. The former minister’s son, Karti Chidambaram, was also accused of facilitating the payment of bribes.

While the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a chargesheet in the matter in July 2018, the Enforcement Directorate registered a complaint a month earlier, Live Law reported.

On November 27, 2021, the trial court took cognisance of the chargesheets filed by the two agencies in the case. It said that there was “sufficient evidence” to summon P Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram and other persons accused in the matter.

On Wednesday, Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri stayed the proceedings till the next date of the hearing. “I will pass a detailed order,” the judge, while issuing notice to the Enforcement Directorate.