Staying the Madras High Court order that protected the district collectors from appearing before the ED in response to its summons, the top court termed the plea of Tamil Nadu and its officials against the ED summons as “strange and unusual”.
SC quashes proceedings against Karnataka Dy CM Shivakumar in PMLA case
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed five district collectors of Tamil Nadu to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an ongoing money laundering probe relating to the alleged illegal sand mining.
Staying the Madras High Court order that protected the five district collectors from appearing before the ED in response to its summons, a bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal termed the plea of Tamil Nadu and its officials against the ED summons as “strange and unusual”.
“The writ petition (of Tamil Nadu and others in the high court) is thoroughly misconceived. Accordingly, the execution of the impugned order (of the high court) is stayed and thus the district collectors shall appear before the Enforcement Directorate on the next date,” the court said in its order passed on Tuesday.
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Earlier on February 23, the top court had questioned the Tamil Nadu government for approaching the Madras High Court against the ED summoning five district collectors in a matter relating to an alleged illegal sand mining case.
The ED had approached the top court against the high court’s interim order staying the ED summonses to district collectors in Tamil Nadu.
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