Overview
- Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate on appeals by Kerala and Tamil Nadu challenging a September 26, 2025 Kerala High Court order.
- Notice was made returnable in four weeks with no stay granted, leaving the High Court’s interim restraint on Kerala’s inquiry commission in place.
- The Kerala High Court had upheld the ED’s locus to approach High Courts, holding the Directorate a statutory body and its Deputy Director a statutory authority capable of filing writ petitions.
- Kerala argues the ED is not a juristic person but a department of the Union that cannot invoke Article 226, citing Supreme Court precedent and contending Centre–State disputes belong under Article 131.
- Tamil Nadu filed a separate appeal pointing to a similar dispute in the Madras High Court, alleging abuse of process in a mining matter and seeking clarity on the agency’s capacity to maintain such petitions.