ED searches on TASMAC: Supreme Court to list plea of TN seeking transfer of its plea from Madras HC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider listing a plea of the Tamil Nadu government seeking transfer of its petition against the recent ED searches on the state-run liquor retailer from the Madras High Court to another high court outside the state.

On March 25, a division bench of Justices M S Ramesh and N Senthilkumar of the Madras High Court recused itself from hearing the petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) against the recent raids conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on the state-run liquor retailer.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan on Friday took note of the submissions of senior advocate Vikram Chaudhari, appearing for the state government, that the plea be heard urgently ahead of next hearing in the high court.

The Tamil Nadu government has filed the plea under Article 139A of the Constitution. The provision empowers the top court to transfer a case from one high court to another.

“We will list it” the CJI said.

Earlier, when the pleas of TASMAC and the state government came up for hearing before the high court on March 25, the bench said it was recusing itself from hearing the case, but did not specify any reasons.

The high court on March 20 directed the Enforcement Directorate, which conducted raids on the premises of the TASMAC earlier last month, to produce copies of the FIR and Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) along with any other material which it relied upon against TASMAC.

Orally directing the ED not to proceed further pursuant to its raids at the TASMAC headquarters in the city, the high court posted to March 25, further hearing of the petitions filed by the liquor retailer and the state government against the searches conducted by ED.

According to ED, it had found serious financial fraud involving distillery companies and bottling entities through generation of unaccounted cash and illicit payments.

In its petition, TASMAC had sought a direction to the ED not to harass its employees under the guise of investigation. It also sought a declaration that the ED's action of investigating the offence within the territorial limits of the State was violative of federalism.