ED, CBI fail to appear before WB Assembly Speaker despite summons

West Bengal assembly speaker, Biman Banerjee issued summons to the central agencies to be present at the assembly premises at 1 pm on Wednesday. The representatives of the two central agencies were supposed to give explanations on why they summoned three elected MLAs of the state's ruling party, Trinamool Congress without the consent of the speaker.

Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) have locked horns with West Bengal Assembly Speaker, Biman Bandopadhya as both failed to sent representatives as per summons issued by the latter. West Bengal assembly speaker, Biman Banerjee issued summons to the central agencies to be present at the assembly premises at 1 pm on Wednesday. The representatives of the two central agencies were supposed to give explanations on why they summoned three elected MLAs of the state's ruling party, Trinamool Congress without the consent of the speaker.

ED through a letter and CBI, through an e-mail, expressed their inability to send their representatives to the assembly before the office of speaker, In the letter and email, both the agencies pointed out that the speaker did not have authority to summon their officers for explanation. Both the agencies also pointed out that whatever they have done were based on the legal provisions.

On Wednesday afternoon, a representative of ED came to the assembly premises. But instead of meeting the speaker he just submitted a letter to the latter's office. West Bengal assembly sources said ED authorities made it clear that they would not send any representative to the assembly. Soon after that, an e-mail from CBI was received and inability to send representatives was expressed in the same.

Meanwhile, ED and CBI sources said that that they are consulting legal experts in this matter. They would prefer to go the legal way rather than buzz and honour the speaker's summons. The speaker himself too sounded quite stern on this issue. "It will be wrong to think that the matter is a closed chapter. No one is above the law," he said. Assembly sources said that there is a high possibility that another summon will be issued to both CBI and ED.