The district collector is a competent authority to issue notice and initiate actions against companies that function unlawfully, Advocate General (AG) A Navaneethakrishnan informed the court, while opposing the plea of PRP Granites and PRP Exports seeking to remove the seal from their office premises.
P Sureshkumar had filed the writ petitions stating that the Collector was not the competent authority to pass orders and seal the firm’s premises.
“They obtained permission to construct office buildings only in 66,000 sqft, whereas structures have been raised in 2 lakh sqft. This is against law,” the Advocate General A Navaneethakrishnan argued.
In an affidavit containing preliminary objections, Collector Anshul Mishra said, “Sureshkumar, who has filed the writ petition has not filed any document to show that he has been authorised by other partners to file the plea and there are 28 criminal cases against him.”
According to the advocate general, the writ petitions have been filed with a motive to prevent the government from collecting important documents on illegal granite quarrying activities of the two firms.
“Only two buildings have been sealed and both contain enormous documents, a part of which have been seized. Computers installed on the firm’s premises could not be opened without passwords, which are available with Shanmugavelu, one of the accused, who is also absconding”, the AG said while claiming that allowing the writs would help the accused tamper with documents.
After hearing the AG’s arguments, the court further adjourned the case to Thursday.