Associations of bullion merchants from Chennai, Coimbatore and other places have rushed to the Madras High Court with a plea to restrain the Election Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer from seizing gold jewels transported by their members along with valid documents as part of their regular business activities.
‘Despite documents’
The writ petitions filed by the Madras Jewellers and Diamond Merchants Association, Coimbatore Jewellery Manufacturers Association and a few others have been listed before a Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad on Friday, when EC counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan will make his submissions.
In an affidavit filed in support of the writ petition preferred by the Chennai-based association, its honorary secretary S. Santhakumar alleged that flying squads and static surveillance teams constituted by the Election Commission were seizing valuables transported by their members despite them being in posession of valid documents.
Claiming that genuine traders were being harassed unabatedly, the petitioner claimed that even police officials, unconnected with election duty, were taking advantage of the situation and intercepting goods in transit.
Filing a similar affidavit, the Coimbatore-based association said jewellery business had come to a standstill due to such seizures.
