Kolkata, May 13 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the hearing in the I-PAC case after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought additional time to present arguments on behalf of the Centre.
Accepting the request, a bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and N.V. Anjaria posted the matter for hearing on May 22.
The case had earlier come up for hearing in April, when the apex court raised questions over alleged interference by the now former Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the ongoing investigation. During the proceedings, the then Trinamool Congress-led state government had argued that the issue reflected a larger conflict between the Centre and the state. Responding to the submission, Justice Mishra had observed that it would not be acceptable if a minister entered an ongoing investigation and attempted to run a "parallel administration", only to later describe the matter as a Centre-state dispute.
The Centre, meanwhile, argued that there was a possibility of crucial information relating to serious offences being removed or tampered with in the course of the investigation. The matter relates to allegations linked to the seizure of electronic devices and the subsequent investigation involving members associated with the political consultancy firm I-PAC.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.