The Punjab and Haryana High Court will on Wednesday hear a petition filed by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and the State of Punjab challenging the Enforcement Directorate’s survey and search at PUDA Bhawan, Sector 62, Mohali, between September 22 and 24.The petition filed against the Union of India, the Directorate of Enforcement and other respondents, has been placed before the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor and is scheduled to come up in the “urgent list”.Among other things, the petitioners alleged that the operation continued for about 50 hours, with floors of the premises sealed, more than 30 bags of records taken away and mobile phones and other electronic devices of senior officers copied or cloned. It also alleged that the Principal Secretary and senior officers remained on the premises for two nights.The petitioners contend that the investigation was stated to have been initiated on the basis of a CBI FIR relating to an alleged Rs 238-crore bank fraud “involving promoters of Tirupati Infra Projects Pvt Ltd, where funds were siphoned off for personal benefits”. But neither the petitioners nor any of its officers was an accused in that FIR.Seeking the complete records relating to the survey and search, including the authorisations and reasons recorded for the action, the petitioners have also sought directions for quashing of the survey and search authorisations. They have also sought return of their records and electronic devices and directions restraining the ED from accessing or using the data copied from them.“The headquarters and offices of the Petitioners were occupied for about 50 hours, their floors sealed, their records carried away in more than 30 bags, their computers and the devices of their officers copied and cloned, and their senior officers kept in their offices night after night without any basis,” the petition said.It was added that the respondents abused their power and held the officers in custody without the authority of law. “The officers of the respondents responsible for such acts have made themselves liable to action under Section 62 of the PMLA for vexatious search and detention”.It was further added that the survey and search conducted by the respondents was “illegal and contrary to the mandate of law as no connection whatsoever can be established between the petitioners and the wrongdoings”.Even if any transaction recorded in the files of the petitioners had a bearing on the investigation, the course prescribed by law was to call for those records. There was no justification in law for survey and search actually conducted, the petitioners contended.