The Supreme Court on Wednesday (18th March, 2026) rebuked the West Bengal government, saying that it cannot dictate to the court when a matter should be heard. A Bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice NV Anjaria made the remarks while hearing a petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its raid on the political consulting firm I-PAC in Kolkata on 8th January, 2026.
In the petition, the ED had alleged “gross abuse of power” by the West Bengal government, while the ED raid was going on, CM Mamata Banerjee arrived at the scene to protest against the raid at the office of I-PAC, which is her party’s political consultancy, and left the building with some files.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for West Bengal, sought time for filing a rejoinder affidavit filed by the ED. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, opposed the adjournment request, calling it a delay tactic. “If you want to delay the matter, let’s at least have a decent ground,” SG Mehta said.
Justifying the state’s request for more time, Senior Advocate Divan said that ED’s affidavit contains many new points and allegations, and therefore, the state government needs more time to respond. Divan further submitted before the court that the state government would not object if the court wanted to proceed by ignoring the ED’s rejoinder. “If the court ignores the rejoinder, then there is no problem, but if the rejoinder is going to be looked into…” Divan submitted.
The top court gave a strong response to Divan’s submission and said it would consider everything on record. “Why should we ignore anything? You cannot dictate. We will consider everything which is on record,” Justice Mishra sternly remarked, adding that “a battle for adjournment is going on”.
Divan added that the state government had no choice in the matter and that it had to argue with a written response regarding ED’s fresh allegations, as it was a sensitive matter. However, the apex court refused to grant an adjournment to the state government and proceeded with the hearing. Diven, then, requested the court to first hear the state government’s preliminary objection to the maintainability of the ED’s petition, which was accepted by the court.
On 8th January, 2026, the ED conducted a search operation at the Kolkata office of political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and the residence of its co-founder, Pratik Jain. The raids were part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation linked to a 2020 coal smuggling scam involving businessman Anup Majee. During the raids, Mamata Banerjee, along with TMC leaders and state police, obstructed the operation by entering the premises, confronting officials, and removing documents and electronic devices, including a laptop and an iPhone. The CM claimed that she removed party-related data to prevent it from going to the BJP.
