In a recent hearing, the Supreme Court warned the Enforcement Department ( ED ) and directed them not to harass the Tamil Nadu District Collector unnecessarily. The Court was hearing the plea of ED against certain District Collectors of Tamil Nadu over their non-appearance in relation to a sand mining money laundering case.
ED issued summons to the Collectors of Vellore, Trichy, Karur, Thanjavur and Ariyalur Districts. Challenging the same, the State of Tamil Nadu filed a writ petition before the Madras High Court. On November 28, a division bench of the High Court stayed the summons (but allowed the investigation to continue), observing that ED was conducting a “fishing and roving” enquiry without ascertaining the existence of proceeds of crime. Against the stay order, the central agency moved the Supreme Court.
On February 27, the top Court suspended the operation and execution of the stay order. It directed the District Collectors to appear and respond to the summonses issued by the ED on the indicated date.
ED issued fresh summons to the District Collectors. Instead of appearing, the Collectors sent replies to the ED seeking postponement, stating that they were engaged with election-related duties in connection with the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and were discharging social welfare schemes in Districts. The Collectors also stated that they did not have the data related to mining and sought time to collect the same from other offices.
The Supreme Court chastised the District Collectors for their non-appearance before ED, expressing that their conduct showed they did not have respect for the Court or the law, much less the Constitution of India.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, on behalf of Tamil Nadu, informed the court that the District Collectors appeared before ED pursuant to the last hearing. Advocate Zoheb Hossain (for ED) contended that though the Collectors appeared, they did not furnish the documents/details asked for. During the hearing, it was also pointed out that the ED officials called the concerned Collectors at 11 AM and made them sit till 8:30 PM.
The two judge bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal deprecated the Collectors for their refusal to appear before ED despite the court’s directions to appear and respond to the summons. The court held that “you can’t do it…don’t retain them unnecessarily” and asked ED to not “harass” the Collectors unnecessarily.
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