SC issues notice, stays Calcutta HC order on STF police station notifications

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, August 25, stayed a Calcutta High Court order that had struck down two West Bengal government notifications creating dedicated police stations for the Special Task Force (STF) and designating courts at Bidhannagar and Siliguri to try cases investigated by those units.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notice on the West Bengal government's appeal against the high court's June 19 order.

"With the advent of cyber crimes, etc., more courts are needed. Why should the high court have a problem with it?" the CJI remarked during the hearing.

The high court had earlier struck down the notifications, ruling that the state government could not alter the criminal justice framework through executive orders alone. While it upheld the STF's constitution in 2019 as valid and allowed it to continue investigating specified offences, the high court held that the government lacked the authority to create exclusive STF police stations and a separate court structure outside the scheme provided under existing law.

That order had come on a plea filed by members of the Jalpaiguri Bar Association, who had challenged two notifications issued by the state on January 30, 2025, and February 10, 2025. The first notification dealt with the formation of the Siliguri STF Headquarter police station and the Salt Lake STF Headquarter police station, while the second addressed the jurisdiction of criminal courts over cases from these stations. Under the February 10, 2025 notification, the Salt Lake STF Headquarter police station was brought under the jurisdiction of the ACJM, Bidhannagar, and the ADJ Special Court, West Bengal (MP and MLA cases), at Bidhannagar in North 24 Parganas, while the ACJM Siliguri and ADJ-II Siliguri, Darjeeling, were designated as trial courts for sessions cases arising from the STF Siliguri police station.

The STF was constituted more than five years ago to tackle modern urban organised crime, including terrorism, organised gangs, and illegal arms, ammunition and drug trafficking across the state.

(With inputs from PTI)