The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed an appeal preferred by Enforcement Directorate in 2005 challenging a 2002 order of a single judge who had quashed an insolvency notice issued to Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran for not having paid penalty imposed in a Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) case.
A Division Bench of Justices R. Subramanian and R. Kalaimathi dismissed the original side appeal, pending for last 18 years, on the technical ground that the insolvency notice issued on March 1, 2001 under Section 9 (2) of the Presidency Towns Insolvency Act of 1909 was not valid since on that date the decree or order against Mr. Dhinakaran had not become final.
After the pronouncement of the verdict, when Additional Solicitor General AR.L. Sundaresan and ED Special Public Prosecutor Rajnish Pathiyil asked whether the ED could issue a fresh notice now since the proceedings had become final, the senior judge in the Bench stated that it goes without saying since the court had interfered with the 2001 notice on a limited ground.
