Judiciary, probe agencies should act independently-Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court on Thursday said the judiciary and agencies like the RBI, CBI and ED should act independently, and asked "what heavens are going to fall" if an interim protection from coercive action is granted for a few days to NCP leader Eknath Khadse in an alleged land grab case of 2016. A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale was hearing a petition filed by Khadse, seeking to quash the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in October last year.Khadse's counsel Aabad Ponda sought the court to grant the former state revenue minister interim protection from any coercive action, pending hearing of the plea.
The ED's counsel, Anil Singh, told the court that the agency would not take any action till January 25.The bench while posting the petition for hearing on Monday, however, sought to know why the ED was insisting on protection to be granted only till Monday."There is a threat to the very democracy if these agencies do not act independently," the court added. "If somebody is ready to cooperate and honour summons then we ask ourselves what is the need for arrest," the court said.We can understand if someone is not cooperating," Justice Shinde said. Khadse in his petition claimed that an FIR was lodged in the same case in 2017, but the police later filed a closure report before a court in Pune.The ED in its affidavit said the court has till date not accepted the closure report and hence, the FIR is not closed.The agency also said it was probing the money laundering angle in the case