Don't Harass TN District Collectors Unnecessarily : Supreme Court To ED

While hearing Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea against certain District Collectors of Tamil Nadu over their non-appearance in relation to a sand mining money laundering case, the Supreme Court on Monday(May 6) told the agency that it must not "harass" the Collectors unnecessarily.

The matter was before a bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal which, on a previous date, deprecated the Collectors for their refusal to appear before ED despite court's directions to appear and respond to the summons.

Today, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, on behalf of Tamil Nadu, informed the court that the District Collectors appeared before ED pursuant to the last hearing.

Agreeing with Sibal to that extent, Advocate Zoheb Hossain (for ED) said that though the Collectors appeared, they did not furnish the documents/details asked for.

The submission was countered by Sibal, saying that everything that the agency had asked for "in the summons" had been supplied.

At Hossain's request, the bench re-listed the matter, asking ED to file an affidavit stating what documents were asked for "in the summons" but not supplied by the Collectors.

During the hearing, it was also pointed out by Sibal that the ED officials called the concerned Collectors at 11 AM and made them sit till 8:30 PM. Deprecating the same, Justice Trivedi said to Hossain, "you can't do it...don't retain them unnecessarily". In the same spirit, Justice Mithal asked ED to not "harass" the Collectors unnecessarily.

The matter is now listed after vacations.

Background

In 2023, the ED issued summons to the Collectors of Vellore, Trichy, Karur, Thanjavur and Ariyalur Districts. Challenging the same, State of Tamil Nadu filed a writ petition before the Madras High Court. On November 28, a division bench of the High Court stayed the summons (but allowed investigation to continue), observing that ED was conducting a "fishing and roving" enquiry without ascertaining the existence of proceeds of crime. Against the stay order, the central agency moved the Supreme Court.

On February 27, the top Court suspended the operation and execution of the stay order. It directed the District Collectors to appear and respond to the summonses issued by the ED on the indicated date.

Following that, on March 1, ED issued fresh summons to the District Collectors. The Collectors, instead of appearing, sent replies to ED seeking postponement, stating that they were engaged with election-related duties in connection with the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and were discharging social welfare schemes in Districts. The Collectors also stated that they did not have the data related to mining and sought time to collect the same from other offices.

On April 2, the Supreme Court chastised the District Collectors for their non-appearance before ED, expressing that their conduct showed they did not have respect for the Court or the law, much less the Constitution of India. The Collectors were directed to appear personally before the agency, failing which strict action was proposed to be taken. To quote the order: "District Collectors shall remain personally present and appear before the ED on 25.04.2024 and respond to the summons issued under Section 50 of the PMLA in respect of the information /data sought therein, failing which, strict view shall be taken in the matter."

For a detailed background, click here.

Case Details : Directorate of Enforcement v. State of Tamil Nadu & Ors. | Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 1959-1963 of 2024