Tamil Nadu on Monday gave its response in the Supreme Court which had questioned it for filing writ petitions before the Madras High Court against the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate to five district collectors in connection with money laundering cases.
The apex court continued to pull up the state for filing pleas challenging summons to collectors. It said that the state has to comply with the law enacted by parliament (PMLA). "Your officials should help the ED to find out if there are any offences," the apex court observed.
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for the TN govt, told the apex court that various judgements, including that of the Madanlal Chaudhary verdict, said that only if the offence is established can the central probe agency investigate a case against any accused anywhere in the country.
"There is no offence made out by us. The ED's jurisdiction is not that they should ask the officer to give informations on cases of so and so. There is no legal basis of saying that the state cannot file an appeal in the SC," Sibal told the apex court's two-judge bench, headed by Justice Bela M Trivedi and also comprising Justice Pankaj Mithal.
Sibal also said that the collectors were not acting as individuals but as its representatives. "Is a district collector not a part of the state? Information was not sought from the collectors in an individual capacity. The state government is aggrieved by an order of the ED asking information from an authority of the state. Four collectors in four districts have been asked by the agency to furnish whatever information that has been sought. So we are aggrieved and thereby we could definitely come to SC," Sibal told the SC.
Opposing Sibal's arguments, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for the ED, told the apex court that the probe agency is entitled to investigate. He further said that the state is stepping into the shoes of the accused, preventing an investigation and trying to shield them.
During the course of the hearing, the court also remarked that government officials should help the ED find out if there are any offences.
Today's arguments were inconclusive and would continue tomorrow before the same bench of the top court.
The Supreme Court had on Friday also 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.
It had remarked that 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 had 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 court also pointed out that the summons could have been challenged by the collectors themselves in their personal capacity before the HC.
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 govt.
