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November 29, 2023
CHENNAI: In a setback to Enforcement Directorate, Madras high court on Tuesday stayed the operation of the summonses issued by the central agency to five district collectors in Tamil Nadu in connection with pending illegal sand mining complaints.
“ED is trying to fish possible commission of predicate offence and the summonses were issued as a fishing expedition to identify possible proceeds of crime from illegal sand mining,” a division bench of Justice S S Sundar and Justice Sunder Mohan said.
The HC order came a day after the court had questioned the rationale of ED’s action, saying the investigating agency could very well seek the information from the IAS officers instead of issuing summonses to them.”We are prima facie convinced the summonses are not within the ED’s jurisdiction,” the bench added. However, the court made it clear it has stayed only the operation of the summonses and not the ED’s investigation into illegal sand mining.
This apart, the bench held that prima facie the pleas moved by the Tamil Nadu government against the actions of ED are maintainable. “This is only our prima facie view. It is subject to elaborate discussion,” the judges said. Days after ED issued summonses to 10 collectors, five of them, besides the state government, moved the HC challenging ED’s jurisdiction and the legality of the summons. The central agency had sought details of all the mining sites from collectors in their respective districts.
Earlier, when the bench commenced dictation of the interim order, additional solicitor general A R L Sundaresh assured the court that no action would be taken against the summoned officials without notice.
Aggrieved, the state government, along with five collectors, moved the HC alleging that ED had issued the summonses only to harass and demoralise the state administration. The state contended that ED had no jurisdiction over illegal sand mining as it was not a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to ED, the total sale value of illegally mined sand for the past two years in Tamil Nadu is Rs 4,730 crore as against recorded revenue of Rs 36.45 crore. This is less than 1% of the actual revenue generated from illicit sand mining, ED said. It added that as per the report of the expert team, as against permitted mining area of 482.76 acres in 28 sites, actual mining impacted areas is 2438.95 acres.
“ED is trying to fish possible commission of predicate offence and the summonses were issued as a fishing expedition to identify possible proceeds of crime from illegal sand mining,” a division bench of Justice S S Sundar and Justice Sunder Mohan said.
The HC order came a day after the court had questioned the rationale of ED’s action, saying the investigating agency could very well seek the information from the IAS officers instead of issuing summonses to them.”We are prima facie convinced the summonses are not within the ED’s jurisdiction,” the bench added. However, the court made it clear it has stayed only the operation of the summonses and not the ED’s investigation into illegal sand mining.
This apart, the bench held that prima facie the pleas moved by the Tamil Nadu government against the actions of ED are maintainable. “This is only our prima facie view. It is subject to elaborate discussion,” the judges said. Days after ED issued summonses to 10 collectors, five of them, besides the state government, moved the HC challenging ED’s jurisdiction and the legality of the summons. The central agency had sought details of all the mining sites from collectors in their respective districts.
Earlier, when the bench commenced dictation of the interim order, additional solicitor general A R L Sundaresh assured the court that no action would be taken against the summoned officials without notice.
Aggrieved, the state government, along with five collectors, moved the HC alleging that ED had issued the summonses only to harass and demoralise the state administration. The state contended that ED had no jurisdiction over illegal sand mining as it was not a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to ED, the total sale value of illegally mined sand for the past two years in Tamil Nadu is Rs 4,730 crore as against recorded revenue of Rs 36.45 crore. This is less than 1% of the actual revenue generated from illicit sand mining, ED said. It added that as per the report of the expert team, as against permitted mining area of 482.76 acres in 28 sites, actual mining impacted areas is 2438.95 acres.
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