West Bengal illegal coal mining scam case: SC adjourns hearing for two weeks
Sep 01, 2021
New Delhi [India], September 1 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing for two weeks, the appeal filed by the prime accused, Anup Majee and also Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government against the Calcutta High Court's order sanctioning CBI probe into the illegal coal mining scam "without the state's consent".
A two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Dr Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud and also comprising Justice M R Shah, adjourned the appeal filed by Majee for two weeks.
The Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, the senior lawyer appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), sought two weeks more time from the Supreme Court to file his reply, to which, the top court allowed his prayer, and fixed the matter for further hearing after two weeks.
Mamata Banerjee government and Majee claimed that as the state government had in 2018 refused to give a go-ahead for a CBI probe in the case, so thereby, the CBI cannot be now given the task of probing the mining scam.
The wife of Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also being probed in the alleged scam and has also been served a notice in the case.
On one of the hearings, the apex court had stayed the arrest of prime accused, Majee till further hearing in the case.
The apex court was hearing the petition filed by the accused, Majee, on whether the probe agency, the CBI can exercise its jurisdiction over railway areas, in the state, without the prior consent of the state government concerned.
The state government had filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court and stated that the CBI did not have the jurisdiction to probe this case, as the state had not given its consent for go-ahead with the CBI investigation. But the same case is still being investigated by the CBI, the West Bengal State government had said in its reply, filed before the Supreme Court.
