The Madras High Court on Friday agreed to hear on Monday five writ petitions filed jointly by the State government and the Collectors of Ariyalur, Karur, Vellore, Thanjavur and Tiruchi districts challenging the summons issued to them by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on November 17.
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Sundar and Sunder Mohan accepted a request made by Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram for an early hearing of the case since it was related to “interference by the central investigating agency” into affairs that were exclusively within the domain of the State government.
Filing identical affidavits in all five writ petitions, Public Department Secretary K. Nanthakumar said the ED had asked the Collectors to appear in person, along with their Aadhaar cards, on different dates and produce all the details related to the sand mines located in their districts.
