The Supreme Court Tuesday “strongly deprecated” the response of those District Collectors of Tamil Nadu who had failed to appear before the ED in response to summons issued by the central agency which is probing the illegal sand mining scam.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal, which noted that they had failed to appear before the ED despite the court directing them to do so, said that “by not following the order, they have created an impression they do not have respect either for the court, or for the law, much less for the Constitution.”

The court said “in our opinion, such cavalier approach and disdainful attitude of the District Collectors may land them into a difficult situation. When the court had passed the order directing them to appear in response to the summons issued by the ED, they were expected to obey the said order”.

It noted they did not appear in person before the ED and filed their replies to the summons stating they would need more time to collect the information and data sought for.