SC to examine ED status to file writ pleas after TN, Kerala challenge

Key Highlights

• Wilson and Vikram Chaudhary represented Tamil Nadu.
• The challenge arises from a Kerala High Court judgment that upheld a single-judge’s interim order staying a judicial commission of inquiry constituted by the Kerala government in May 2021 under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.
• The commission, headed by retired Justice V. K.
• Mohanan, was tasked with examining alleged jurisdictional overreach and political bias by Central agencies, including the ED and Customs, in connection with attempts to link Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other state officials to the UAE gold smuggling case.
• The single judge had stayed the inquiry after the ED moved the High Court seeking to quash the state’s notification constituting the commission, contending that the exercise was malafide and violated principles of federalism.