The past months have seen States ruled by Opposition parties battle tooth-and-nail the Directorate of Enforcement in the Supreme Court.
The frequency of the cases has raised questions, both inside and outside the courtroom, as to whether the Central agency and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are being used by the Union government to harass rival politicians and State officials ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has sent mixed signals from multiple Benches while dealing with these cases. While one Bench has called for a “neutral mechanism” to sift through cases to check if hidden political vendettas and one-upmanship were at play between the Centre and States, another Bench led by Justice Bela Trivedi prioritised the investigating agency, making it clear that States had no choice but comply with the summons of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED).
