HC flays TN for keeping it in dark on transfer pleas

HIGH drama unfolded in the Madras High Court on Tuesday over the hearing of the writ petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu government and its business entity, Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac), against the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) raids as a division bench slammed the state government for keeping it in the dark over the transfer petitions filed in the Supreme Court to shift the case to the apex court.

- R SIVAKUMAR @ Chennai

In strong remarks, the division bench of justices S M Subramaniam and K Rajasekar said the state government had "insulted" and "disrespected" the court and misrepresented the facts.

As agreed by the parties in the previous hearing, the petitions were listed for hearing on Tuesday. When the hearing came up, a special government pleader sought 'pass over' of the case to enable a senior counsel to appear.

When the case was taken up at 12 pm, state government pleader Edwin Prabhakar informed the court about the transfer petitions. Even as he made the submissions, the bench grilled him as to why it had not been informed as soon as the court assembled in the morning or at least when the pass over was sought for.

"WHAT prevented you from informing us about the transfer petitions filed in the SC.