The Madras High Court on Tuesday stayed the operation of the summons issued to five district collectors by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act into alleged illegal sand mining in the state.

A division bench comprising Justices S S Sundar and Sundar Mohan granted the interim stay on the petition filed by state public department secretary K Nanthakumar.

The bench, however, said the ED can go ahead with its probe into the alleged sand mining in the state.

The top public department official filed the plea on behalf of the district collectors of Ariyalur, Vellore, Thanjavur, Karur and Tiruchirapalli.

The petition sought to quash the summons issued by the ED which asked them to appear in person on various dates with details related to sand mining in their respective districts.

Directing the state government and the five district collectors to file their reply affidavit to the objection petition filed by the ED, the bench posted to December 21, further hearing of the case.