ED admits lack of power to seal premises during search

CHENNAI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday admitted to Madras high court that it lacks the power to seal a premise but said it has the power to break open locked premises during a search.

“My lords are right; we (ED) don’t have the power to seal premises under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) ... We have the power to break open a premise if it’s closed when we go there for a search. We should have done that … We will remove the notices pasted on the properties and permit the petitioners to enter,” said additional solicitor general S V Raju. He was referring to the sealing of the residences and office premises of film producer Akash Bhaskaran and businessman Vikram Ravindran in connection with the alleged Rs 1,000 crore Tasmac liquor scam.

The basis for the raid was 41 FIRs registered in connection with irregularities in Tasmac, the ASG said. A mere suspicion is enough to conduct a search; ‘reason to believe’ comes into play only during an arrest, he said. To this, the court asked whether the petitioners are named in any one of the 41 FIRs. It is not necessary; mere suspicion is enough, Raju said.

Pointing out that Supreme Court is seized of the issue (search conducted in Tasmac), Raju wanted HC to wait till the apex court arrived at a decision on the powers of ED. To this, a division bench of Justice M S Ramesh and Justice V Lakshminarayanan said, “While ED will continue its proceedings in connection with the case and not wait till SC passes an order, how can they expect us (HC) to wait for the SC order?”

If ED has taken a stand that the apex court is seized of the issue, why did the agency not move a petition seeking to transfer the current plea to Supreme Court, the bench asked. Perusing the documents produced by ED, it said what has been given to the court is not sufficient material for suspicion against the petitioners. The court then reserved orders on the interim application moved by the petitioners to de-seal their property and adjourned the main application by four weeks for ED to file a counter.