Tainted Minister Senthil Balaji
While disposing of a batch of pleas challenging the minister’s continuation in the cabinet without any
portfolio, First bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Vijaykumar Gangapurwala and Justice P D Audikesavalu
observed that Senthil Balaji’s continuance does not augur well with the purity of the administration.
J Jayavardhan, former AIADMK MP and son of former minister D Jayakumar moved the Madras high
court questioning the validity of V Senthil Balaji remaining minister even after his arrest by the
Enforcement Directorate (ED).
HC said “according to the petitioners, the high court under Article 226 of the Constitution has power
to declare a person unfit to hold a post. It said “When a person becomes disgrace to a post, the
court can very well declare him unfit to the post. While the chief minister was right in removing
Senthil Balaji’s portfolios after his arrest, he erred in allowing him to continue as a minister”. The
petitioner said “Senthil Balaji seeks to hold on to the post of minister without any legal authority and
as an usurper. The council of ministers and each individual minister is appointed under Article 164(1)
of the Constitution by the governor and holds office during his pleasure.”
Tamil Nadu government argued that unless a person was convicted for an offence, he or she was not disqualified from holding the post of a minister. It said “A governor can act only on the advice of the state cabinet. He cannot conduct a parallel administration against the state government. A person could not be disqualified from holding the post for the sake of registration of an FIR”.
The judges observed that the continuation of Senthil balaji as a Minister without portfolio, despite him being in judicial custody pursuant to his arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in a money laundering case, does not serve any purpose and also does not augur well with purity of administration and the constitutional ethos.
A PIL sought to quash the order of Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi dismissing Senthil Balaji and his subsequent order to keep the same in abeyance, the other two writ petitions questioned the authority under which Senthil Balaji was holding the post of a minister. Petitioners submitted that in this case, the Governor initially wrote to the Chief Minister to consider the criminal antecedents of Senthil Balaji and drop him. Chief Minister M K Stalin replied stating that Senthil Balaji will continue to be a Minister without portfolio. They argued that the Governor did not keep the Chief Minister in the dark while passing the order. The Governor has removed him with reasons and therefore, it was valid.
Enforcement Department (ED) on June 14 arrested Senthil Balaji under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). After alleged heart surgery in a private hospital for blocks, he is currently in judicial custody in Puzhal Central Prison hospital. ED has filed a 3,000 pages Charge sheet in the case.
Meanwhile, Madras High Court on September 4, directed the Principal Sessions Court in Chennai to conduct the trial in the money laundering case against Balaji and take up his bail application for adjudication. It said that it could not transfer the case against Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji to the special court for cases against MPs and MLAs.
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