CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Friday told the Madras High Court that the state is not obliged to register FIRs based solely on information provided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding alleged scams.
The state also emphasized that registering an FIR is not within the prerogative of a central agency.
Advocate General PS Raman made the submissions before the first bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan in response to petitions filed by the ED.
The ED had sought a direction for the Tamil Nadu Home Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP) to register FIRs concerning alleged illegal sand mining, based on information shared by the agency last year.
“Only because the ED has shared information, the state cannot act like a post office and register an FIR. We are not obligated to do so based solely on such information,” Raman told the court.
He accused the ED of adopting a “pick and choose” attitude toward Tamil Nadu, stating, “Registration of FIR is not a prerogative of the ED.”
Referring to the ED’s plea, Raman noted that a division bench of the High Court had previously quashed the ECIR, and the Supreme Court dismissed the special leave petition filed by the agency.
He further observed that the ED appeared to be targeting only Tamil Nadu, despite states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Bihar having illegal mining cases four to five times higher than Tamil Nadu. “How many ECIRs has the ED registered in such states?” he asked.
Court's poser to ED
The bench questioned ED counsel N. Ramesh on whether the agency could seek a court order directing the state government to register FIRs based on information it had shared.
“Can one agency seek such relief against another agency, namely the state police?” the bench asked.
Ramesh responded that the ED had collected voluminous material on the alleged scam and shared it with the state police under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), but no FIR had been registered so far.
The ED had filed the petition seeking a direction to the DGP to promptly register FIRs regarding cognizable offences disclosed through its communications dated 13 June 2024 and 18 July 2024 under Section 66(2) of the PMLA.
It also sought directions for the Home Secretary and Water Resources Secretary to fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation, including providing all necessary documents, records, and access to materials, as well as expeditiously furnishing copies of all registered FIRs.
