Sand mining case: Madras HC summons T.N. Public Secretary after no regulation officer turns as much as signify State

A view of the Madras Excessive Court docket. File
| Picture Credit score: Okay. Pichumani

The Madras Excessive Court docket on Thursday (November 28, 2024) summoned the Tamil Nadu Public Division Secretary, irked that no counsel turned as much as signify the State authorities in a batch of 5 writ petitions filed by it in 2023, which challenged the summons issued by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to 5 district Collectors over a cash laundering probe in reference to unlawful river sand mining operations.

A Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and M. Jothiraman was shocked to search out that nobody represented the State authorities, although Extra Solicitor Normal AR.L. Sundaresan, assisted by ED Particular Public Prosecutor N. Ramesh, instructed the Bench the writ petitions had turn into infructuous for the reason that Collectors had appeared for inquiry pursuant to Supreme Court docket orders.

The ASG mentioned, the Excessive Court docket had in November 2023 stayed the summons issued by the ED and subsequently, the latter had taken the order on attraction to the Supreme Court docket, which insisted that the Collectors of Ariyalur, Karur, Vellore, Thanjavur, and Tiruchi districts should reply to the summons. In compliance with the orders handed by the highest courtroom, the Collectors participated within the inquiry in April 2024.

Subsequently, nothing survived within the 5 writ petitions filed collectively by the State authorities and the Collectors, and so they had turn into infructuous, Mr. Sundaresan mentioned. Nonetheless, when the judges wished to know who was showing for the writ petitioners, a Particular Authorities Pleader mentioned that he was current within the courtroom for an additional case and had no directions within the ED summons batch.

After recording his submissions and expressing displeasure over no regulation officer having represented the State, the Division Bench directed the Public Secretary to look earlier than the courtroom on Friday (November 29, 2024) and clarify who had been engaged to signify the State authorities.