The Chhattisgarh government on Wednesday withdrew its petition from the Supreme Court challenging the Enforcement Directorate’s action against state government officials in a money laundering case on jurisdictional grounds. The money laundering case registered in 2022 pertains to an FIR lodged on a complaint by the Income Tax Department over allegations of illegal duty collection on coal in Chhattisgarh and attempts to influence public servants through corrupt means.
The ED has claimed that a major scam took place in coal transportation in Chhattisgarh between 2019 and 2021, under which a nexus of politicians, officials and others were allegedly charging illegal fees. The Chhattisgarh government, in its petition, claimed that the ED had initiated investigation against the state government officials by filing an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in Raipur on September 29, 2022, based on the FIR lodged in Bengaluru.
Chhattisgarh’s standing counsel Sumir Sodhi on Wednesday told a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice SVN Bhatti that he has been directed to withdraw the petition. The bench allowed the state government to withdraw the petition and recorded Sodhi’s plea. The petition requested the court to declare the ED’s action illegal, ultra vires and unconstitutional.
Apart from seeking quashing of the ECIR, the Chhattisgarh government also urged the top court to declare all subsequent actions taken by the ED in connection with the investigation as arbitrary and unconstitutional as they have interfered with the functions of the state police. . The Chhattisgarh government alleged that the ED investigation resulted in indiscriminate surveys and raids in various departments and offices of the state government and arrests of state officials.