Tamil Nadu: Madras HC Stays ED Summons To District Collectors In Illegal Sand Mining Probe

A bench of Justices SS Sundar and Sundar Mohan of the Madras High Court today (28 November) ordered a stay on the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) summons to District Collectors as part of its probe into illegal sand mining in the state but allowed the investigation to go on.

The hearing on the petitions was adjourned by three weeks.

The government's contentions were that illegal sand mining is not a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED's action amounted to interference by a central investigating agency into matters that were part of the exclusive domain of the state government, and the state government's consent should have been taken, reported The Hindu.