'ED Cannot Be A Law Unto Itself' : Supreme Court Extends Interim Relief In Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam Case

ED (Directorate of Enforcement) cannot be a law unto itself, orally observed the Supreme Court on Monday (August 21) while extending the interim protection from coercive action to certain Chattisgarh government officials in the UP Police FIR over alleged making of duplicate holograms in connection with the liquor scam case.

A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia was hearing the officials' plea against the liquor scam case.  It is worth mentioning that in its last hearing, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for certain bureaucrats, had contended that the UP Police FIR was registered on July 30, in order to circumvent the Supreme Court’s July 18 order which restrained the ED from proceeding with investigation in relation to the Chhattisgarh liquor scam. The bench passed the July 18 order taking note of the petitioners' contention that the ED case is based on certain alleged offences under the Income Tax Act 1961, which is not a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The petitioners, including IAS officer Atul Tuteja and his son Yash Tuteja, had contended that ED cannot proceed without a competent court taking cognizance of the scheduled offence.

On the last hearing date (August 7), the petitioners had argued that in order to bypass the Supreme Court's order, the ED had caused an FIR to be lodged with the UP Police over allegations of forgery. Countering this argument, the ED had contended that the agency was bound to inform the jurisdictional police about any offence which it detects during the course of its investigation. At this point, the Court had asked the ED's counsel to get instructions as to when the information relating to the UP Police FIR was obtained- whether before the July 18 order or after.

Thus, the Court had listed the matter to August 21 and ordered: