India, Oct. 31 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has moved the Madras High Court to seek directions to the Tamil Nadu government and the director general of police (DGP) o register a case on what the agency termed as "systemic and rampant illegal sand mining" in the state.

The high court on Friday issued notice to the state government, but also questioned ED whether one investigating agency could seek judicial directions to compel another agency to act.

"You are an investigating agency. Courts have said that unless a predicate offence is registered, you cannot have powers. Now, can you file an application saying they should be directed to register FIRs?" a bench of chief justice Manindra Mohan Srivastava and justice G Arul Murugan ask...