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The Supreme Court is taking up connected Tuesday (January 20, 2026) for proceeding abstracted pleas filed by the States of Tamil Nadu and Kerala asking the aforesaid question — is the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) a “juristic person”.
A ‘juristic’ idiosyncratic is simply a ineligible fabrication by which a non-human, similar an incorporated company, is recognised to person rights, duties, writer oregon beryllium sued similar a quality being.
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The question cropped up successful the Kerala High Court erstwhile the ED filed a writ petition nether Article 226 of the Constitution seeking the enforcement of its rights.
The State of Kerala, represented by advocator CK Sasi, countered that the ED was not a “person” but a statutory creation. In fact, Kerala said the Central bureau was portion of the ‘state’ itself. Article 226 is invoked by humans aggrieved by the actions oregon perceived excesses of the state. Kerala argued that Centre-State disputes should beryllium exclusively raised successful the Supreme Court successful archetypal suits filed nether Article 131 of the Constitution.
Kerala’s lawsuit stemmed from a uncovering by the Division Bench of the State High Court successful September 2025 that a writ petition by the ED, filed done its Deputy Director, against the State was maintainable. Earlier a Single Judge Bench of the High Court, Kerala said, had concluded that showing ED arsenic the ‘petitioner’ successful a writ petition nether Article 226 was lone a “trivial defect”, and 1 should absorption connected the substance of the petition and not the form.
The ED had challenged successful the High Court a notification issued by the State successful May 2021 to acceptable up a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to analyse an audio clip and a missive from accused persons successful the golden smuggling case. The accused had alleged that ED officials were coaxing them to implicate persons holding precocious offices successful the State. The Inquiry Commission was tasked by the State to probe whether determination was a conspiracy afoot against the State’s governmental leaders and to unearth the individuality of those down the plot.
The State of Tamil Nadu, coming to cognize of Kerala’s case, filed a abstracted petition successful the Supreme Court done advocator T. Harish Kumar. Tamil Nadu backed its neighbour's cause, submitting that objections raised by referring to Article 131 of the Constitution of India, alleging that ED was indulging successful “a gross and blatant maltreatment of the process of instrumentality by invoking the writ jurisdiction of the Madras High Court seeking mandamus for registration of a lawsuit relating to the alleged amerciable mining”. Tamil Nadu said the ED’s writ successful the High Court was "misconceived and unmaintainable”.
Both States, riddled with ED raids and ineligible action, privation the Supreme Court to determine the question of instrumentality authoritatively. A Bench headed by Justice Dipankar Datta is scheduled to perceive some Kerala and Tamil Nadu connected January 20.
“A statutory assemblage tin workout lone the powerfulness conferred by the applicable statute and each statutory bodies request not beryllium assemblage firm with powerfulness to sue. Only a assemblage corporate, with powerfulness to writer specifically conferred by the statute, tin assertion ineligible presumption oregon juristic person, which the Enforcement Directorate admittedly does not have. The Deputy Director of Enforcement is lone an serviceman nether the Directorate of Enforcement and is not a juristic person,” Kerala has argued successful the apex court.
The State submitted that the Deputy Director of ED was lone an serviceman and not a juristic person. “Hence, helium besides could not person filed a writ petition. Therefore, the uncovering of the High Court that the Deputy Director of Enforcement has locus standi to institute the writ petition is erroneous… Neither the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act nor that of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act constituted immoderate quality oregon close successful instrumentality to entitle the ED to beryllium recognised arsenic 1 clothed with ineligible property to beryllium treated arsenic a juristic idiosyncratic eligible successful instrumentality to sue,” the Kerala petition contended.
Both the States referred to the Supreme Court judgement successful the caselaw, Chief Conservator of Forests, Government of Andhra Pradesh versus Collector, which held that whether a ineligible entity – a earthy idiosyncratic oregon an artificial idiosyncratic – could writer oregon beryllium sued successful his/its ain sanction successful a tribunal of instrumentality oregon a tribunal was not simply a procedural formality and was fundamentally a substance of substance and sizeable significance.
