Aishwarya Rathore-
Published on: August 11, 2021 at 16:32 IST
Kerala High Court temporarily halted the judicial inquiry ordered by the State Government for examining alleged attempts by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and other Central agencies to implicate Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, in the UAE gold smuggling case.
Justice PB Suresh Kumar stated that he was inclined to grant an Interim Order on the plea moved by ED to quash the judicial inquiry initiated by the State Government under CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
In July 2020, according to an investigation conducted by ED into money laundering, illegal financial transactions, and massive gold smuggling through diplomatic channels, suspected offenders were arrested and interrogated in Kerala.
Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, two of the accused, said in a voice tape that they were forced to sign statements implicating then Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Home Minister by certain ED officers.
A Commission was established to probe the State government’s claims that the agencies were seeking to implicate the Chief Minister through their alleged jurisdictional overreach and political bias.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the ED, argued that the State Government’s formation of the Commission violated Section 3, read with Section 2A of the Commissions of Inquiry Act. It states that the Central Government is the competent authority for matters relating to an entry in the Central list/list 1 of the 7th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
However, Mehta contended that the Commission was set up to go beyond Kerala High Court’s prior decisions in P. Radhakrishnan vs State of Kerala and Ors., in which the Court quashed FIRs filed against ED officials over the same accusations.
Therefore, he sought to quash the probe because it was a malafide exercise of power. It also went against the principles of cooperative federalism.
Also Read: Kerala Govt moves High Court challenging Single Judge’s Order: Gold Smuggling Case