An illegal sand mining unit. Representative Photo.
Credit: DH Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday cautioned five district collectors of Tamil Nadu, saying their 'cavalier approach' would land them in a difficult situation if they failed to obey its direction to appear before the Enforcement Directorate in the illegal sand mining case.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal took exception to the failure of the officers to appear before the investigating agency, as this showed that the officers have no respect for the court, law and the Constitution of India.
"In our opinion, such a cavalier approach will land them in a difficult situation. When the court had passed the order directing them to appear in response to the summons issued by the ED, they were expected to obey the same order and remain present before the ED. This shows that the officers don't have either respect for the court or the law much less the Constitution of India. Such an approach is strongly deprecated," the bench said.
The court, however, granted them one last opportunity to appear before the Enforcement Directorate with all the relevant data on April 25 as senior advocate Kapil Sibal for the Tamil Nadu government submitted they were busy with 'election duties'.
The court was hearing a plea by the Enforcement Directorate against the Madras High Court's order which stayed the summons issued against the 5 District Collectors.
"We are not happy with your officers. They should have appeared before the ED in person and explained," the bench told Sibal. "We are concerned with compliance of the order," the bench said.
On this, the counsel said the election process would be disrupted as they are also incharge of law and order in their areas.
Giving the errant officers a last opportunity, the bench directed the collectors to remain personally present before the ED and respond to the summons, failing which a strict view will be taken.
The Madras High Court, on November 28, last year, had stayed the summons issued by the central probe agency seeking the presence of district collectors of Vellore, Tiruchirappalli, Karur, Thanjavur and Ariyalur in connection with its ongoing probe in the sand mining scam case. The ED moved the top court against the high court order, saying the non-cooperation would hamper its probe.
On February 27, the Supreme Court had stayed the high court order that had granted relief to the district collectors and said the plea of Tamil Nadu and its officials was 'strange and unusual' and may lead to stalling the investigation of ED in money laundering aspect in connection with the FIRs.
(With PTI inputs)