Sand mining case: Madras HC summons Public Department secretary
As no law officers from the State appeared for the case, a division bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice M Jothiraman summoned the secretary of the Public and Rehabilitation Department to appear before the court on November 29 (Friday).
Madras High Court (File)
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court issued a summon to the secretary of the Public and Rehabilitation Department in the case challenging the summons issued by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to the various district collectors of the State in connection with illegal sand mining.
As no law officers from the State appeared for the case, a division bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice M Jothiraman summoned the secretary of the Public and Rehabilitation Department to appear before the court on November 29 (Friday).
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) ARL Sundaresan, on behalf of ED, submitted that the Tamil Nadu government has expressed its willingness before the Supreme Court to cooperate with the investigation of the enforcement agency regarding the alleged money laundering offence.
The bench wrote that the investigating agencies of the State and ED are bound to act in tandem to ensure that no person committing a money laundering offence is allowed to escape from the clutches of law and posted the matter to November 29, summoning the secretary of the Public and Rehabilitation department.
On September 12 last year, the ED conducted surprise inspections at various sand quarry sites in the State and also investigated engineers of the Water Resources Department in connection to the procedure and sale of illegally mined sand.
After the surprise inspection, the ED issued summons to 10 district collectors including Karur, Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Ariyalur, and Vellore, to appear with the FIR registered in illegal sand mining cases and a list of all sand mining locations and GPS coordinates.
Aggrieved by the summons, the Public and Rehabilitation Department secretary, Water Resources Department secretary, and district collectors moved the high court.
On November 11, 2023, the High Court issued an interim stay to the summons issued against the district collectors, and later the Supreme Court directed the collectors to appear before the ED as they are bound to respond to the summons.
