Hearing in the Kolkata I-PAC ED raid case was held in the Supreme Court on Thursday. After hearing the arguments, the top court said that the argument of collapse of the constitutional machinery could have far reaching consequences as it could lead to a situation of President's rule. Presenting its argument, ED said that there is no claim of collapse of the constitutional system in West Bengal.
The investigating agency told the Supreme Court that it is not claiming complete collapse of the constitutional machinery in the state of West Bengal. The Solicitor General made it clear that ED's argument was about violation of the rule of law in the I-PAC case. Along with this, it should not be understood as a failure of the constitutional system. Commenting on this, the Supreme Court said that the argument of collapse of the constitutional system can have far-reaching consequences, because it can lead to a situation of President's rule.
SG Tushar Mehta, presenting the argument on behalf of ED, said that yesterday the West Bengal government and the police had completed the arguments. Yesterday, the Supreme Court had expressed displeasure over West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's intervention in the ED raid. The Supreme Court had said that when the Chief Minister of a state interferes in the investigation of a central agency, then it cannot be seen only as a dispute between the Center or the state. The Supreme Court had made this comment while questioning the argument of the Mamata government, in which it had raised questions on the ED's petition in this case. The bench of Justice PK Mishra and Justice NV Anjari was hearing the case.
Mamta government said that in this case, the ED's petition claiming violation of fundamental rights under Article 32 is not worth hearing since it is a matter of state versus central government, hence a petition should be filed under Article 131. Questioning Mamata Banerjee's attitude, the Supreme Court had said that the Chief Minister of any state cannot be allowed to jeopardize democracy by interfering in the investigation. Let us tell you that ED has accused him of interfering in the investigation in the Kolkata office of I-PAC.
