NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday questioned the Tamil Nadu government regarding the writ petitions filed before the Madras High Court against summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate to five district collectors in connection with money laundering cases.
A two-judge bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal said the officials are duty bound to respond to the summons and cooperate with probes initiated by investigative agencies. The bench was hearing a special leave petition filed by the ED against a November 28 ruling of the Madras HC that stayed the operation of the summonses issued by the agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
During the hearing, Justice Trivedi asked the Tamil Nadu government to demonstrate its locus standi to file the writ petition. “How can the state file this writ petition? Under which law...You satisfy us on how state is interested and how it can file this writ petition against the ED. How is the state aggrieved? The SC said the summons could have been challenged by the collectors themselves in their personal capacity before the HC.
The top court sought the response of the TN government and the five collectors and adjourned the case to February 26 (Monday). After the ED issued the summons to the collectors in the alleged sand mining scam, the state filed a plea before the Madras HC.
Based on the plea, the HC granted an interim stay on November 2023 on the operation of the summons, saying that the summons appeared to be part of a “fishing expedition”, and prima facie, there was no jurisdiction to issue the summons to any of the district collectors. The state also had challenged the ED’s power to investigate such offences without the prior consent of the state government.