The Supreme Court has stayed a judgment of the Calcutta High Court that had declared unconstitutional a set of notifications issued by the West Bengal government for the creation of dedicated police stations for the State’s Special Task Force (STF) and the assignment of specified courts to deal with cases investigated by the specialised agency.
The interim order effectively suspends the operation of the High Court’s June 2026 ruling, which had struck down the State notifications on the ground that the existing statutory framework did not authorise the executive to establish offence-specific police stations with overlapping and statewide jurisdiction or to create a parallel mechanism for the prosecution and trial of such cases.
The controversy arose from a series of notifications issued by the West Bengal government, including one dated January 30, 2025, under which two police stations were established exclusively for the STF at Salt Lake and New Jalpaiguri. Subsequent notifications provided for the staffing of those police stations and designated courts for matters arising from cases registered and investigated by the STF.
While the Calcutta High Court had found no legal infirmity in the constitution or functioning of the STF itself, it drew a distinction between the establishment of a specialised investigative wing and the creation of police stations exclusively earmarked for that wing. The High Court held that the State could not, through executive notifications alone, establish a parallel and overlapping network of police stations exercising jurisdiction over specified offences across West Bengal.
The High Court had reasoned that the power to define a police station, its territorial limits and its local jurisdiction could not be stretched to create a specialised police station attached exclusively to a particular wing of the police establishment. It further held that such an arrangement could potentially result in the coexistence of the ordinary territorial police station and an STF-designated police station exercising parallel jurisdiction over the same geographical area and categories of offences.
The Court had consequently held the notifications creating the dedicated STF police stations, the posts sanctioned to man them, and the mechanism for assigning particular courts to such cases to be contrary to the existing legal framework. At the same time, it clarified that its ruling would not affect the constitution of the West Bengal STF or its authority to investigate offences assigned to it under the earlier notification constituting the specialised force.
The Supreme Court has now intervened and stayed the High Court’s decision, thereby restoring, for the present, the operational framework created under the impugned notifications. The stay means that the High Court’s declaration of invalidity will not operate pending further consideration of the matter by the apex court.
The challenge raises significant questions concerning the extent of executive authority in structuring specialised policing mechanisms, the statutory meaning of a “police station” and the permissibility of creating exclusive investigative and adjudicatory channels for particular categories of serious offences.
The Supreme Court’s eventual determination will therefore have implications extending beyond the West Bengal STF, particularly on the legal limits within which State governments may establish specialised police stations and devise institutional arrangements for the investigation and trial of designated classes of offences.
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