Enforcement Directorate as a Juristic Person

Case Description

In July 2020, a diplomatic baggage, arriving from Dubai, containing 30 kilograms of gold was seized from the Thiruvananthapuram airport. Following the seizure, the National Investigation Agency took over the investigation and made arrests. One of the accused shared a letter to the Sessions Judge in Ernakulam that they were coerced by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials to implicate the Principal Secretary of the Chief Minister and the Home Minister in the case. 

In May 2021, the State Government issued a notification under the Commission Inquiry Act 1952 to probe into the allegations of conspiracy to implicate political leaders in the gold smuggling case. The inquiry commission was headed by the former Kerala High Court judge V.K. Mohanan. 

Subsequently, the ED moved to the High Court under Article 226 challenging the notification, arguing that the allegations pertained to charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967—both of which are Central legislations. The ED further contended that the subject of inquiry squarely falls within the Union List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. The State Government is therefore incompetent to order an inquiry committee. 

On 11 August 2021, the Single-Judge Bench of the Kerala High Court issued an interim order in favour of the ED, staying the inquiry commission. The Court noted that ED had the locus standi to approach the Court for a stay. The State Government moved an intra-court appeal challenging the order, arguing that the ED is neither a juristic person, nor a body corporate, entitled or liable to be sued in the name. It claimed that the Single-Judge erred in determining the maintainability of the ED’s writ petition. 

On 26 September 2025, the Division Bench of the Kerala High Court upheld the interim order of the Single-Judge Bench. The Bench held that the ED, being a statutory body constituted under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, has locus standi to file a writ petition under Article 226. Further, the Court held that the argument of non-juristic personality does not defeat the right of recourse under Article 226. In a challenge against the impugned order, the State Government, through a Special Leave Petition, moved to the Supreme Court. 

On 20 January 2026, a Division Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and S.C. Sharma issued notice in the matter, alongside a similar petition questioning the powers of the ED as a juristic person in State of Tamil Nadu v Enforcement Directorate.

The matter shall be taken up next on 20 February 2026.