- An original suit filed by West Bengal under Article 131 of the Constitution against the Union government, alleged that the CBI was probing several cases and registering FIRs within its jurisdiction without obtaining prior consent of the state.
- The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction to deal with any dispute between the Centre and a state; the Centre and a state on the one side and another state on the other side; and two or more states.
- In its extraordinary original jurisdiction, the Supreme Court has exclusive power to adjudicate disputes involving elections of the President and the Vice President, those that involve states and the Centre, and cases involving the violation of fundamental rights.
- For a dispute to qualify as a dispute under Article 131, it has to necessarily be between states and the Centre and must involve a question of law or fact on which the existence of a legal right of the state or the Centre depends.
- In ‘State of Karnataka v Union of India’ (1978), Justice P N Bhagwati put a condition for the Supreme Court to accept a suit under Article 131, the state need not show that its legal right is violated, but only that the dispute involves a legal question.
- Article 131 cannot be used to settle political differences between state and central governments headed by different parties.
- Tamil Nadu also filed an original suit in the Supreme Court under Article 131 recently asking to direct the union to release Disaster Relief Funds.
Dig Deeper: Read about powers of CBI and general consent aspect related to it
