Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain TN Govt Plea To Transfer TASMAC-ED Matter From Madras High Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (April 8) refused to entertain the petitions filed by the State of Tamil Nadu and the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) seeking to transfer from the Madras High Court the petitions filed by them against the searches of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the TASMAC offices.

When the matter was taken, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna expressed the view that the matters should be decided by the Madras High Court itself. "Let it be decided there," CJI Khanna said. The State and the TASMAC had sought the transfer to the Supreme Court stating that certain petitions seeking guidelines against search of devices and gadgets were pending in the Supreme Court. Regarding this argument, CJI Khanna said that those petitions pertained to the seizure of devices from journalists, where the claim of privacy stands on a higher threshold.

Opposing the petitions, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that this issue (seizure of gadgets) was not raised at the High Court. The SG said that the petition was an attempt at "forum shopping".

After the bench expressed its disinclination to entertain the petition, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, for the State, chose to withdraw it. The bench then passed an order allowing the withdrawal of transfer petitions.

In a related development, the Madras High Court today expressed its displeasure with the State seeking the transfer of the matter from the High Court.

The petitions filed by the State Government and the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) in the High Court were initially listed before a bench comprising Justice MS Ramesh and Justice N Senthilkumar.

On March 20, the High Court bench orally asked the ED to halt its probe, after questioning the Central Agency's actions. However, on the next hearing date, the said bench recused from hearing the matter. The matter was then listed before a bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice K Rajasekar. The new bench has posted the matter for a final hearing on April 8.

Case : State of Tamil Nadu vs Directorate of Enforcement T.P.(Crl.) No. 309/2025 & TASMAC vs Directorate of Enforcement T.P.(Crl.) No. 306-307/2025