The Madras High Court on Monday decided to pass orders on Tuesday on Tamil Nadu Government’s plea to stay not only the summons issued by Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to five District Collectors but also the entire investigation being conducted into alleged money laundering of the proceeds of rampant illegal sand mining in the State.
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Sundar and Sunder Mohan heard the arguments advanced by senior counsel Dushyant Dave for the State government and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) AR.L. Sundaresan for the ED and decided to first pronounce its orders on the State’s plea for interim relief before dealing with the main cases.
The State government and the five Collectors had jointly filed 10 writ petitions — five challenging the summons and the other five seeking a declaration that the ED’s power to investigate such offences, without the consent of the State government, was against federalism which was a basic structure of the Constitution.
