ED Claims TN District Collectors Have Withheld Documents; State Disputes ED Assertion

A bench of Justice Bela Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal was dealing with ED's plea against Madras HC's order staying ED summons to District Collectors of Vellore, Trichy, Thanjavur and Ariyalur in the case.

The court on April 2, 2024 had directed the respondent District Collectors to personally appear before the ED on April 25, 2024. On May 6, 2024, ED told the court that while the District Collectors had appeared before it, they did not produce documents sought by it. The court directed the ED to submit a compliance report to that effect.

During the hearing today, Advocate Zoheb Hossain for the ED told the court that ED has filed the compliance report setting out the exact documents that were sought for and not provided. He said that the copy of the report has been served to the respondents.

Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari for the State said that the ED has been supplied with all the documents. “Whatever documents they have asked for in the summons, all the documents have been supplied to them”, he said.

Hossain submitted that though the respondents undertook to provide the documents, they never got back to the ED with the documents.

The Supreme Court directed ED's compliance report to be served on the respondents, who are permitted to file their replies. The court listed the case for further hearing after two weeks.

“Let the compliance report be served to the counsels for the respondents and let the respondents file reply thereto, if they desire to do so”, the court stated in the order.

Justice Trivedi remarked that the respondent District Collectors have to comply with the summons. "They have to comply", she said.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi for the District Collectors responded that they have joined the investigation and supplied truckloads of documents to the ED. If ED wants something else they will supply that too, he added.

Background –

On February 27, 2024, the Supreme Court suspended an interim order by the Madras High Court that stayed summonses issued to Tamil Nadu district collectors in connection with alleged illegal sand mining-money laundering cases. This interim relief was granted in a special leave petition by the ED against the High Court's November 28, 2023 ruling, which allowed the investigation to continue but stayed the summonses.

The Supreme Court observed that the State's writ petition before the High Court against the summonses appeared to be based on a misconception of the law. The bench highlighted that Article 256 of the Constitution requires state governments to comply with laws made by Parliament, and the ED has the authority to summon individuals under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal for the Tamil Nadu government argued against the ED's jurisdiction over 'mining offences' and questioned why ED sought personal documents like passports and Aadhar cards.

However, the Supreme Court maintained that the District Collectors are obliged to comply with the summonses.

Case no. – Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 1959-1963 of 2024

Case title – Directorate of Enforcement v. State of Tamil Nadu & Ors.