Bengal contradicting itself on writs claims ED in Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: Countering the West Bengal government and its CM Mamata Banerjee's plea that a writ petition filed by ED and its officers is not maintainable as only individuals can claim violation of fundamental rights, the agency told the Supreme Court Thursday that many states, including Bengal, had filed such petitions and these were entertained by the court.

Appearing before a bench of justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and NV Anjaria, solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the bench that the governments of Tamil Nadu, Odisha and also Bengal had filed writ petitions, but now the state is taking a contradictory stand.



"After filing itself a writ petition, it cannot say that only individuals can file the petition," he said while responding to a submission that the Article 32 petition cannot be filed by an investigating agency or its officers, as they do not have a fundamental right to probe.

Mehta further said the rule of law is part of fundamental rights under Article 14, which talks about equality before law, and a writ petition can certainly be filed in case of breakdown of the rule of law, as has happened in Bengal, where ED was not allowed to discharge its duty and prevented from carrying out a probe.

ED has alleged that Mamata used the state machinery to obstruct its January 8 probe at political consultancy firm I-Pac's office in Kolkata in connection with the coal smuggling case.

Justifying the petition filed by ED officers, he said they do not forgo their fundamental rights after donning the uniform and cannot be prevented from filing a petition just because they are officers. Mehta said their identity as individuals and officers is inseparable, and it would be a travesty of justice if they were prevented from approaching the court if they were falsely implicated in a case like the present one.

At that stage, the bench observed there is an inherent danger if such a petition is filed and entertained, as it would lead to a floodgate of litigation, and states would keep filing such a petition.

As the state government had submitted that there is a statutory remedy available for ED by filing an FIR instead of invoking Article 32 in the case, Mehta raised the question on how a case FIR can be filed before the state police seeking a probe against the CM, DGP, a police commissioner and a DCP.

"That's why an independent neutral agency under court supervision will have to go into it. This is the fight where a central agency is investigating with proper documentation and the political executive supported by the highest echelons of police department comes and takes away the incriminating material on the ground that I-Pac is also our (TMC) political adviser and you wanted some secret documents from I-Pac regarding our political party," he said
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