Chennai: The Madras high court has reserved orders on a petition filed by AIADMK (Amma) general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakharan, which sought to set aside an order of the lower court, framing charges against him in a two-decade old Fera violation case.

Justice M.S. Ramesh also reserved orders on the petition filed by Enforcement Directorate, which sought to vacate the interim stay granted by him earlier.

Alleging that the Additional chief metropolitan magistrate (economic offences court-1) had not heard his counsel before framing charges in the case on April 19, 2017, Dhinakaran filed the present petition. Justice M.S. Ramesh had on July 7 stayed all further proceedings pending against Dhinakaran before the ACMM, Egmore. Aggrieved, the ED filed the present petition to vacate the stay.

In its counter affidavit, the ED submitted that Dhinakaran has filed the present petition just to drag on the proceedings pending before the trial court. The ED had also filed a memo before the trial court to hear the case on a day to day basis also since it is a 21-year-old case.

The trial court has been judicially hearing the case after giving opportunities to both parties and following the principles of natural justice. The charges framed by the trial court were maintainable in the law which clearly shows that Dhinakaran has violated the provisions of FERA. Hence, the petition filed by Dhinakaran to set aside the order framing charges against him was not maintainable and liable to be dismissed, the ED added.