As the West Bengal Government opposed the maintainability of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee interrupting the probe agency’s January 8 raid at the I-PAC office in Kolkata was not a “happy situation”.A bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice NV Anjaria said that a chief minister obstructing ED might lead to unusual situations and no entity could not be left remediless under the Constitution when their functioning was interrupted.The top court’s comments came after senior counsel Shyam Divan, representing the West Bengal Government, contended that the probe agency was not a juristic entity and that it lacked the legal personality required to invoke fundamental rights jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution against a ‘State’ as defined under Article 12 of the Constitution.“According to them (ED), the Chief Minister barged into some government office controlled by the Central Government… if Article 226 (petition) is not maintainable… Article 32 (petition) is also not maintainable then, who will decide? Someday some other Chief Minister may enter into some other office…” the bench said.“The Central Government may certainly come forward. But that must be examined within the framework prescribed by the Constitution,” Divan said. If central agencies were allowed to use Article 32, it would result in a “dangerous precedent for the federal structure”, he said, adding the issue needed to be considered by a Constitution Bench under Article 145 due to its implications for federal balance.The bench, however, wondered what remedy would be available in extraordinary situations of interference by a Chief Minister with central probe agency’s work, if neither Article 32 nor Article 226 remedies were available. “There should not be a vacuum,” the top court noted.In his brief submissions on behalf of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, senior counsel Kapil Sibal said ED cannot file a writ petition seeking to direct CBI to register an FIR into the alleged obstruction during the I-PAC raid.As the bench pointed out that the safety of ED officials was allegedly threatened, Sibal said, “Assuming they have been threatened, what is the fundamental right here? Let’s see section 221 of the BNS — obstructing a public servant who is discharging public duties. That is the answer.”In a rejoinder affidavit, ED said it has moved the top court in the capacity of parens patriae — as guardian of the fundamental rights of the country’s citizens.Earlier, the bench turned down the West Bengal Government’s request to adjourn hearing of ED’s petition in relation to the I-PAC office raid.On January 8, ED officials faced obstructions during the probe agency’s raids at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC in Salt Lake and the residence of its chief, Pratik Jain, in Kolkata in connection with a coal smuggling case.ED alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee entered the premises and took away “key” evidence related to the probe.The CM, however, accused the central agency of overreach, while her party, Trinamool Congress, has denied ED’s allegation of “obstructing” its probe. The state police had registered an FIR against the ED officers.