The Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing in the explosive confrontation between the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to February 10, 2026. A bench comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi acceded to a request for adjournment made by the counsel representing the parties.
While the hearing was brief, its implications remain significant. The interim protections granted by the Court on January 16 continue to operate:
- Stay on FIRs: The three FIRs registered by the West Bengal Police against ED officials for conducting the raids remain stayed.
- Evidence Preservation: The State is still under strict direction to preserve all CCTV footage and electronic evidence from the raid site at the I-PAC office and surrounding areas.
The case stems from the ED's allegation that the Chief Minister and state police machinery "obstructed" a lawful search operation linked to the coal pilferage scam at the office of I-PAC (a political consultancy firm). The ED has sought a transfer of the investigation to the CBI, claiming that the state police cannot be trusted to investigate their own political masters. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has previously described the incident as a case where "mobocracy overtook democracy," alleging that files and phones were "stolen" during the confrontation.
The State of West Bengal, represented by Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, has challenged the maintainability of the petition, arguing that the ED is engaging in "forum shopping" by bypassing the Calcutta High Court.
What’s Next? The matter is now listed for February 10. The Court is expected to delve deeper into the "larger questions" it had previously flagged—specifically, how to balance the independence of central agencies with the dangers of federal overreach, and whether a constitutional court must step in when a State allegedly blocks a central investigation.