The Union government has apprised the Supreme Court that the State of West Bengal cannot sue it over cases being lodged and probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation as CBI was an independent agency.
The matter pertained to the original suit filed by the West Bengal government under Article 131 of the Constitution (original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court with respect to Centre-State disputes).
Appearing for the Centre before the Bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Aravind Kumar,
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the suit was liable to be dismissed since there was no cause of action against the Central government and the CBI cannot be made a party to such suits as per Article 131.
As per the SG, the suit ought to be dismissed for concealing facts as it had suppressed the fact that a similar matter was already pending before the top court in a Special Leave Petition.
Calling the pleadings as mischievous, SG Mehta said the petitioner has suppressed that the cases were registered in directions of the Calcutta High and one of this Court. This has been completely hidden, he added.
The SG further contended that Article 131 was only for disputes between federal units. Third parties could not be added. Moreover, it was subject to provisions of the Constitution and did not take away the jurisdiction of this court.
He also pointed out that neither the Union government nor the Department of Personnel and Training directed or supervised CBI probes.
He said there was no cause of action against the Union. Under the Supreme Court Rules, it was ground for dismissal. Order 26 Rule 6. The CBI was not under the Centre. No suit against it under 131 [was maintainable].
The SG maintained that a petitioner could not re-litigate by changing nomenclature and suppressing facts for favourable interim orders.
He contended that the state government had not come to the Supreme Court with clean hands, and was seeking relief against a Central agency, which was not permissible in an original suit against the Union government.
Representing the West Bengal government, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal objected to the Central government’s averments and submitted that the SG should not have used words like ‘fraudulent’ to describe the suit.
He pointed out that the Union government had superintendence over the CBI, and that the main relief sought was that cases should not be registered without the consent of the State government.
Calling it a complete violation of the basic structure of the Constitution, the Senior Advocate claimed that they were trying to arrest everyone all over India, first with NIA, then PMLA.
He said he was aggrieved not by the court orders, but by the jurisdictional issue. How can they say that it was barred, he asked.
The petition filed by the West Bengal government referred to the provisions of the 1946 Delhi Special Police Establishment Act. It alleged that CBI has been proceeding with investigations and filing FIRs without getting a nod from the state government, as mandated under the Act.
It was further stated that since the general consent given to the CBI by the Trinamool Congress-led state government has been withdrawn, the FIRs lodged by CBI could not be proceeded with.