Chennai, Aug 20 (NationPress) The Madras High Court has summoned the Joint Director of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Chennai Zone-I unit to appear in court regarding a contempt petition initiated by film producer Akash Bhaskaran.

This petition arose after the ED issued a summons to Bhaskaran despite a prior interim stay granted by the court concerning the investigation of the alleged Rs 1,000 crore TASMAC liquor scam.

A division bench comprising Justices M.S. Ramesh and V. Lakshminarayanan expressed dissatisfaction with the agency’s actions.

“There is a limit to everything. The officer was present in the court when the stay order was issued. Yet, he proceeded to issue the summons,” the judges remarked.

When the ED’s attorney claimed the summons was an unintentional error, the bench curtly responded: “Let him appear so that he may avoid repeating this error.”

The court also emphasized the agency’s persistent failure to comply, stating, “We instructed you to submit a counter to the contempt petition. You neglected to do so even after multiple adjournments. We imposed a fine of Rs 30,000. You refused to pay and instead indicated you would appeal against the cost order,” the bench noted.

Senior advocate Vijay Narayan, representing Bhaskaran, highlighted that the ED even filed a request before the High Court to waive the imposed costs.

Earlier, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing via video conferencing, requested more time to file an appeal against the cost order.

However, the bench insisted that the officer must appear in person.

“Let the officer appear on September 17. You may file an appeal against this order if you wish,” the court stated, adjourning the matter to that date.

The case pertains to alleged widespread corruption within TASMAC operations.

The ED previously conducted searches at properties associated with Bhaskaran and businessman Vikram Ravindran, during which documents were seized. Nevertheless, the High Court later determined that the ED lacked the authority to lock and seal premises, ordered the return of the seized documents to Bhaskaran, and restrained the agency from utilizing those materials for further actions.

In spite of this clear directive, the ED proceeded to issue a summons to Bhaskaran, leading the court on July 23 to reprimand the agency for violating its orders.

The bench also allowed Bhaskaran to initiate contempt proceedings if necessary. Acting on this permission, Bhaskaran filed the current contempt plea, resulting in the court summoning the ED officer to appear in September.