Supreme Court Questions Objection to ED Plea in I-PAC Raid Case

PTI, March 18, 2026, New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the West Bengal government's objection to the maintainability of the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea over alleged obstruction by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during a raid, saying no entity can be left remediless under the Constitution.

The West Bengal government has questioned in the top court the maintainability of the ED's plea alleging obstruction by Banerjee and other state authorities during its January 8 search of the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC in Kolkata in connection with a money-laundering probe.

A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and NV Anjaria was told by the West Bengal government that the ED is not a juristic person, enabling it to file an Article 32 petition in the apex court for violation of fundamental rights against a state.

"If the ED, according to you, cannot file a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, then surely it cannot file its petition before the high court under Article 226? Then where will they seek remedy? There cannot be a vacuum. Our Constitution does not envisage an entity to be remediless," Justice Mishra told senior advocate Shyam Divan, who appeared in the court on behalf of the state government.