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The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday withdrew a plea that sought transfer of a case related to Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids on the premises of Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC), a state owned liquor company, from the Madras High Court to the Supreme Court.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar stated that the Madras High Court is well equipped to deal with the issues related to the search and seizure of electronic gadgets, which were raised in the Tamil Nadu government's plea. Following this, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Tamil Nadu, chose to withdraw the plea seeking transfer of the matter to the top court. The State, in its transfer plea, challenged the legality of the ED's search and seizure operations at the TASMAC premises, raising concerns that the ED is seizing mobile phones and electronic devices belonging to TASMAC employees and extracting data without a warrant. The plea also contested the ED's action of detaining the employees for over 60 hours during the raids. The Solicitor General of India (SGI), Tushar Mehta who appeared for ED stated that Tamil Nadu's plea was nothing but an attempt at "forum shopping". However, the top court today did not seem inclined to transfer the matter from the Madras High Court to itself. Following this, Tamil Nadu withdrew its plea seeking a transfer. (ANI)
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