BREAKING : Kerala High Court Stays Govt Order Constituting Judicial Commission Against ED In Gold Smuggling Case

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and thereby stayed the Government notification that constituted a judicial commission to probe into the alleged implication of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the gold smuggling case. 

Justice P.B. Suresh Kumar passed the interim order in a writ petition preferred by the Directorate challenging the State's notification dated 7th May 2021 on the ground that only the Central Government can constitute a judicial commission in this matter.

Accordingly, the Judicial Commission, headed by former High Court judge Justice V K Mohanan,  has been restrained from exercising any power or taking any action in exercise of the said powers conferred upon it by the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952.

There is an inherent lack of jurisdiction on the part of the State Government because as per Section 2(a) of the Commission of Inquiries Act, the "appropriate government" to constitute a commission to deal with matters under List I of the Constitution is the Central Government, the ED had submitted in its plea.

In the first hearing of the matter, the State had raised preliminary objections raised against the maintainability of the petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate, attacking the very maintainability of the petition. 

One of the primary objections was that a department of the Centre cannot file a writ petition against a state. A department is not a body corporate that can sue or be sued. So the ED is not a legal person which can maintain a writ petition, the State had contended. 

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for ED in the matter.  The State of Kerala was represented by Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup. The copy of the order is awaited.

Background:

The petition was filed after Former High Court Judge V K Mohanan was appointed to chair the Judicial Commission by the State to examine the alleged illegal interventions made into the UAE gold smuggling case by central investigation agencies. A notification to this effect was issued on May 7th 2021.

The judicial probe was ordered to examine if that the ED and the Customs Department had made an alleged attempt to falsely implicate the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the said gold smuggling case by coercing the accused Swapna Suresh to give statements him.

Case Title: Enforcement Directorate v. State of Kerala

(Story to be updated after receiving full copy of the order)