NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday strongly deprecated the non-appearance of five district collectors of Tamil Nadu before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an ongoing money laundering probe related to alleged illegal sand mining, despite the court's order.
It directed the officials to appear before the ED personally on April 25, adding that failure to do so will have serious consequences.
The two-judge bench of the top court, headed by Justice Bela M Trivedi and also comprising Justice Pankaj Mithal, slammed the 5 district collectors for not appearing before the ED in a sand mining case and said that such kind of "cavalier attitude" cannot be typically tolerated.
The apex court, however, considering the schedule of upcoming Lok Sabha elections, had directed them to appear before the ED after the polling of Lok Sabha held in Tamil Nadu.
"Failure to (appear before the ED) do so will have serious consequences," the top court said in its order today.
It also went on to say that this shows that the officers don't have the respect for the court, or the law. The same is strongly deprecated.
The apex court listed the matter for further hearing and compliance on May 6. In its order, the court has strongly warned of strict action in case of any further non-compliance from the DCs.
The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by the ED against the Madras High Court's decision to stay its summons to the five DCs in Tamil Nadu in connection with a probe into an alleged sand mining scam.
The Supreme Court on February 27, in its order had allowed the appeal of the ED, and directed five District Collectors of Tamil Nadu to appear before the central probe agency, pertaining to the ongoing money laundering probe in the illegal sand mining case.
While allowing the ED appeal and refusing to upheld the HC order, the SC bench in its earlier order had noted that the Tamil Nadu's writ petition before the HC against the summons was prima facie appeared to be 'misconstrued' and based on a 'misconception of the law'.
After the ED issued the summons to the collectors in the sand mining scam, the state had 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.