Madras High Court seeks ED’s response to writ petitions filed by Tasmac against search operation

The Madras High Court on Thursday (March 20, 2025) granted time till Monday (March 24, 2025) to the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to file its counter affidavit to two writ petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) to declare as illegal the search and seizure operations conducted between March 6 and 8, 2025.

The Madras High Court on Thursday (March 20, 2025) granted time till Monday (March 24, 2025) to the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to file its counter affidavit to two writ petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) to declare as illegal the search and seizure operations conducted between March 6 and 8, 2025.

A Division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and N. Senthilkumar also orally asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) A.R.L. Sundaresan, assisted by ED Special Public Prosecutor N. Ramesh, to ensure that no coercive action was taken against Tasmac officials before the court could hear the matter next week.

Advocate General P.S. Raman, representing the State government, and senior counsel Vikram Chaudhary, representing Tasmac, told the Bench that they would also submit CCTV footage to prove how every individual, from the Tasmac MD to the security guard, was harassed for 60 hours.

The A-G told the court that only women employees were allowed to go home just for six hours every night during the search operation at the Tasmac headquarters in Chennai. Mr. Chaudhary said, data from the mobile phones of the MD and other officials was taken in complete violation of their right to privacy.

“This is a classic case in the country where State government officers, including women, have been made to sit for 60 hours from morning till midnight. They were given a break for six hours, and this process continued for three days plus. Nobody can stop a legitimate investigation but [it cannot be done], not in this way,” Mr. Choudhary said.

Mr. Raman complained that the Tasmac officials were not even made aware of the predicate offences based on which ED had embarked on the search and seizure operation. The officials were neither given a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) nor the search authorisation issued by a ED Joint Director, he said.

He accused the ED officials of having barged into the Tasmac headquarters on March 6 and examining official records related to transport and bar tenders, besides accessing data from the mobile phones and Gmail accounts of the MD and other top officials.