Gita Mittal, J.

1. By way of this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner assails the proceedings in Complaint Bearing No. 880/1 dated 27th May, 2002 entitled Enforcement Directorate v. Sanjay Malviya and Ors. under Section 56 of the Foreign Exchange Act, 1973 read with Sub-section 3 and 4 of Section 49 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and prays for quashing thereof primarily on the ground that the same have been commenced without effecting statutory compliance of the mandatory provision of the proviso to sub Clause (ii) of Sub-section 2 of Section 61 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973. The petitioner has also assailed the order of the learned trial judge taking cognizance of the complaint and issuing summons to the petitioner.

2. The petitioner claims to be an ordinary director of the Intergroup C & E Ltd. (ICE Ltd for brevity) which was allotted six Integrated Services Digital Network telephone connection (ISDN connections for brevity) at their office premises E380, Greater Kailash I, New Delhi in February, 2000 without STD/ISD dialing facility. On 3rd May, 2000, the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL for brevity) which was a service provider for these connections filed a criminal complaint before the Special Cell of the Delhi police alleging that the subscriber was misusing the telephone connection in violation of the provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. The police raided the business premises of the company, arrested Sh. Sanjay Malviya, its managing director and Sh. Deepak Gupta, Technical Advisor and also seized all equipment attached with the telephone connection. A case bearing FIR No. 136/2000 was registered under Section 420/120B of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 4/20 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.

3. The allegations in the complaint were that one of the ISD and telephone lines was made into a permanent channel and thereafter by using sophisticated equipment, international calls were being distributed to Delhi and nearby areas illegally through the Public Safety Telephone Network (PSTN network for brevity). In the complaint allegations were also made by the MTNL that the channels/connection allotted to the company were found busy day and night which indicated that the ISD and lines were being misused. Transmission of data from the USA to the connnection through ISD and connection was compressed. Instead of 24 calls, only one call would suffice to transmit the compressed data. It was complained that this resulted in loss to the MTNL of Rs. 5 crores in foreign exchange. The further allegation in the complaint was that the equipment seized from the business premises of the petitioner was not of approved subscription of the telecom engineering centre, a nodal government agency under the Department of Telecommunication.

4. So far as the criminal case was concerned, the investigating agency of the special cell of the Delhi Police is stated to have filed a chargesheet against the petitioner and other accused persons in the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi under Sections 405/420/120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 read with Section 4/20 and 25 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. The Intergroup Conventions and Exhibitions Ltd. (ICE Ltd. for brevity) is stated to have a civil suit for permanent and mandatory injunctions Bearing No. 405/2000 entitled as ICE Ltd. v. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. against the illegal disconnection of the telephone services to the company.

5. The petitioner states that a notice dated 18th April, 2002 was received from the Enforcement Directorate, respondent No. 2 herein. His statement is stated to have been recorded by the Directorate of Enforcement under Section 40 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as "FERA, 1973" for brevity) read with Section 49(3) & (4) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as "FEMA, 1999" for brevity) on