Supreme Court
The Supreme Court will continue hearing on May 8 on the petition filed by the state government against the FIR lodged by the CBI in the West Bengal cases. The court has to decide whether this petition is hearable or not. A bench headed by Justice BR Gavai is hearing the petition filed by the West Bengal government. During the hearing of the case, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that CBI is not under the central government.
Therefore, it cannot be the subject matter of original shoot of Article 131 in the dispute between the Central Government and the State Government and the State cannot be a petitioner in it. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also said that the CBI files the case and not the Central Government, hence the Central Government cannot be made a party. SG said that CBI is investigating the cases, however CBI also cannot be made a party here. The SG said that even if the decision in the present case is in favor of the West Bengal government, it will not be implemented. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Government, has raised questions on the petition filed by the Mamata government.
Mehta said that in these cases the CBI has registered the case, and not the Central Government. CBI itself is an independent investigating agency. Since the case has been registered by CBI, the Bengal government cannot file a case against the Central Government. SG said that this petition of Mamta government is not worth hearing under Article 131. The state government has not made CBI a party in the petition. Because under Article 131 she cannot be made a party. There is no justification for the Bengal Government making the Central Government a party. SG said that there are many cases where CBI is investigating due to the order of the High Court. But the Bengal government has deliberately hidden these facts from the court.
Let us tell you that Article 131 deals with the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in a dispute between the Central Government and one or more states. SG Tushar Mehta, appearing for the central government, told the bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta that Article 131 of the Constitution is one of the supreme jurisdictional provisions of the Supreme Court and this provision cannot be allowed to be invoked. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government, said that CBI cannot be a party. I am not seeking any declaration against CBI. What I am saying is that under the federal structure, if a state withdraws the consent, the investigating agency cannot investigate.
Kapil Sibal said that as far as supervision is concerned. In all other matters the right of supervision rests with the Central Government. My learned friend SG Tushar Mehta is saying that what does the Central Government have to do with this? It is noteworthy that the Bengal government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court claiming that the CBI has not taken the approval of the state government for investigation in many cases. The West Bengal government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Center under Article 131 of the Constitution. In which it has been alleged that despite the state withdrawing the general consent given to the CBI, the federal agency is investigating the cases of the state by registering an FIR.
Also Read: Delhi High Court Declines Directives On Deep Fake Ban Amidst Lok Sabha Elections
