New Delhi: Days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned as many as 10 Tamil Nadu district collectors in one go over alleged irregularities in sand mining, the M. K. Stalin government moved the Madras High Court against the move Friday, in what appears to be a fresh tussle between the DMK-ruled state and the Centre.
The hearing in the case is expected on Monday.
The state’s petitions on behalf of five of the collectors, accessed by ThePrint, call for the summons to be ‘quashed as without jurisdiction, illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional as they violate both the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 and the Constitution’.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government has requested the court to provide an interim stay on the ED’s summons and further proceedings.
The ED issued summons to the 10 collectors from Ariyalur, Karur, Vellore, Thanjavur, Trichy among others — the senior most authorities in their districts for sand mining — via email last week, on 17 November, as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged money laundering.
The petition also questions the ED’s motivations behind exercising the PMLA on money laundering only in specific states while in others such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, thousands of cases remain pending.
The PMLA does not allow the ED to interfere in state matters and summon its officers for investigation, it contended.
The Tamil Nadu government has contested the summons, accusing the federal agency of using the act with “unguided and unchecked power” to interfere in a state in “a pick- and-choose approach, in violation of the principles of federalism”.
The PMLA is being used to “impinge upon and hinder the power of the State Government to exclusively deal with its law and order situation, particularly in States not governed by the political party in power at the Centre”, it noted.
In the second week of September, the ED carried out massive raids in the state earlier this year, across 34 locations, including eight sand mining yards, throughout six districts of Tamil Nadu linked to the alleged illegal sand mining case. According to the ED, various documents including unaccounted cash totalling ₹ 2.33 crore and gold worth Rs 56.86 lakh was found during the search.
Senior DMK leader Duraimurugan holds the portfolio of minerals and mines. Sand is sold online in the state through the water resources department’s website and e-receipts are issued at designated depots. However, the ED alleges that large quantities of sand are sold offline and not shown in the records.
The ED has summoned several DMK leaders, including Vellore MP Kathir Anand, senior leader Duraimurugan’s son Durai Murugan Kathir Anand, higher education minister K. Ponmudy and his son Gautham Sigamani (also an MP), and fisheries and animal husbandry Anitha Radakrishnan, in the recent months.
Kathir Anand and K. Ponmudy were summoned this month over similar allegations of money laundering, in connection with the Rs 11 crore found in a residence in Katpadi.
Moreover, public works minister E. V. Velu, and Arakkonam MP S. Jagathrakshakan have also come under the radar of the Income Tax department recently. While the agency searched roughly 40 locations linked to the former union minister in October on suspicion of tax evasion, numerous residences linked to Velu were also raided in the first week of November. These raids were linked to the I-T’s investigation related to contractors and suppliers of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB).
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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