18 MAY,2023.
Timely caution The top court has rightly cautioned probe agencies against crossing limits(PG 6)(GS 2)
18 MAY,2023.
•The Supreme Court’s exhortation to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to create an atmosphere of fear indicates how much the agency needs to temper its zeal in investigating allegations against political opponents of the current regime.
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• Responding to complaints that the ED is harassing employees of the Excise Department in Chhattisgarh in the name of investigating the moneylaundering aspects of an alleged liquor scandal, a Bench has made the pertinent point that even a bona fide cause would seem suspect if a law enforcement agency conducted itself in a way that created fear.
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•The observation is both a caution against transgressing the limits of a lawful investigation and a warning against letting a perception gain ground that the agency would go to any lengths to implicate someone.
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•Given that several leaders and Ministers from States ruled by parties other than the BJP have been summoned by the ED, or arrested and imprisoned, not many will be surprised at the charges levelled on behalf of the Chhattisgarh government that the agency is running amok and that its officers were threatening State officers, in an alleged bid to implicate the State’s Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel.
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• These charges may or may not be accurate, but the core problem is that the number of political adversaries under the agency's adverse notice is unusually high.