T.N. Public Department Secretary appears before Madras High Court

The Tamil Nadu Public Department Secretary Reeta Harish Thakkar appeared before the Madras High Court on Friday (November 29, 2024) after she was summoned by the court on Thursday (November 28, 2024) when no law officer turned up to represent the State government in a batch of writ petitions filed against the summons issued by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in 2023 to five Collectors in a money laundering probe related to illegal river sand mining.

Tamil Nadu Public Department Secretary Reeta Harish Thakkar appeared before the Madras High Court on Friday (November 29, 2024) after she was summoned by the court on Thursday (November 28, 2024) when no law officer turned up to represent the State government in a batch of writ petitions filed against the summons issued by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in 2023 to five Collectors in a money laundering probe related to illegal river sand mining.

A Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and M. Jothiraman recorded the presence of the secretary and dispensed with her appearance in future hearings. They also accepted the apology tendered by Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran for the non-appearance of law officers, and asked him and the secretary to ensure that the counsel represent the government in an effective manner.

The AAG told the court that the State government, as well as the Collectors of Ariyalur, Karur, Vellore, Thanjavur, and Tiruchi districts, had jointly filed five writ petitions challenging the summons issued by the ED, but subsequently, all five Collectors had appeared before the ED officials and participated in the money laundering inquiry in April this year on the basis of the directions issued by the Supreme Court.

Apart from these five writ petitions, the government had filed five other writ petitions seeking a declaration that the power of the ED to conduct investigation without the express consent of the State government concerned was in violation of the basic structure of federalism and that the ED could conduct any probe only at the request of the State government or on the basis of orders passed by constitutional courts.

Mr. Ravindran sought time for the Public Department to hold consultations with Advocate General P.S. Raman on the need or otherwise to proceed with the writ petitions seeking declaratory relief and get back to the court. Accepting his request, the Division Bench adjourned the hearing on the entire batch of 10 writ petitions by a week in order to enable the government to obtain necessary legal advice.