Sand mining case | Madras High Court stays Enforcement Directorate’s summons to five T.N. Collectors

Madras HC stays ED summons to 5 TN Dists' Collectors over sand mining quarries; Bench prima facie views ED can't conduct roving inquiry under PMLA; State govt & ED to argue during final hearing on Dec 21.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday stayed the operation of summons issued by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to five District Collectors in Tamil Nadu on November 17, asking them to appear in person, along with their Aadhaar cards, and submit details regarding all sand mining quarries in their districts.

Justices S.S. Sundar and Sunder Mohan granted the interim stay following writ petitions filed jointly by the State government and the Collectors challenging the summons, as well as the authority of the ED, a Central agency, to investigate such offences without the consent of the State government.

The judges made it clear they were not staying the investigation as such, though interim applications had been taken out by the State government to stay all further proceedings pursuant to the registration of an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) by the ED, and that the stay would be confined to the summons alone.

The ED has been conducting an investigation in sand quarries across T.N. since September, looking into allegations that a large quantity of sand was excavated from riverbeds and sold illegally bypassing the online sales mechanism thereby causing a huge loss to the State exchequer. 

The Bench was of the prima facie view that the ED could not conduct a roving inquiry under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by summoning the Collectors of Ariyalur, Karur, Vellore, Thanjavur and Tiruchi districts and asking them to submit details regarding sand quarries.

It, however, kept open all arguments to be advanced by the State government as well as the ED during the final hearing of the writ petitions on December 21.