New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday expressed its discontent with the absence of counsel, representing the Centre, during the hearing of a suit filed by the West Bengal government regarding the misuse of the CBI.
"It cuts a very sorry picture that the Union is not interested in important matters. There are so many law officers, there are so many senior counsel on your panel and not a single lawyer was present," the apex court told the Centre's top law officer, when he appeared before the court later in the day.
The matter came up before a bench comprising Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih. The West Bengal government has filed an original suit against the Centre under Article 131 of the Constitution. The state government had alleged that the CBI has been filing FIRs and proceeding with its investigation, despite the state having withdrawn the general consent to the federal agency to probe cases within its territorial jurisdiction.
The bench said it is not pleased to see that no law officer was present in the court when the matter was called for hearing. A counsel informed the apex court that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was to represent the Centre in the matter, was arguing another case before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna.
"Somebody should be here. This is showing no courtesy to the court. There are so many law officers," said the bench. The bench stressed that it is a dispute between a state government and the central government and Centre's law officer should be present in the courtroom. "Show some courtesy to the court….," said the bench, adding that there are also many senior lawyers on the Centre's panel. The bench then passed over the matter on the request of the lawyer.
Later in the day, Mehta appeared before the bench in some other matter. Justice Gavai told him, "Mr solicitor, in that West Bengal matter, nobody was present. It cuts a very sorry picture that the Union is not interested in important matters. There are so many law officers, there are so many senior counsel on your panel and not a single lawyer was present”. Mehta requested the apex court to adjourn the matter for two weeks.
In a lighter vein, Justice Gavai said Tushar Mehta cannot be in every court and there are 17 courts. Article 131 deals with the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction in a dispute between the Centre and one or more states. The apex court in July, last year, had declined to entertain Centre's objection to the maintainability of the lawsuit and listed the matter for framing of issues. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the West Bengal government, had argued that once the state had withdrawn its consent on November 16, 2018, the Centre could not allow the CBI to enter its territory for investigation.
