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States » SouthPosted at: Apr 23 2025 8:42PM


TN Min Senthilbalaji in horns of dilemma after SC strictures to decide on bail or Ministry post

Chennai, Apr 23 (UNI) With the Supreme Court passing serious strictures against his continuance
as Tamil Nadu Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise and asking him decide on whether he
favoured bail or the Minister post, V Senthilbalaji is caught in a horns of a dilemma.
Reflecting on the SC observations with the Budget session of the State Assembly continuing, political observers say that Mr Balaji has no other option than to quit from the Cabinet or else Chief Minister
M K Stalin should remove him.
Mr Balaji, after serving more than a year in jail in the case relating to cash for jobs scam, returned as
Minister two days after the Apex Court granted him bail last year.
While the SC had questioned his becoming Minister though it had not stated so while granting bail,
which was given purely on the grounds that he was not a Minister, Mr Balaji has been given time till
Monday to decide.
If he chose to remain as Minister, then the bail provisions could be cancelled, which meant that he
had to be sent back to the prison, the observers noted.
They expect that he might opt for resigning from the Minister post in a bid to stay out of prison.
The Minister is now facing a tough situation causing some headache for the DMK Government.
It may be recalled that Governor R N Ravi, amid heightening row with the ruling DMK over a host
of issues, had removed Mr Balaji from the Ministerial post, but put it on hold after serious objections raised by the CM as it was his prerogative to decide on whom should be in the Cabinet and on intervention by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
It may be recalled that Mr Senthilbalaji, who was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case
in June 2023 and continued as Minister without portfolio, had resigned from the Council of Ministers
in February 2024.
Mr Senthilbalaji, the ruling DMK's strongman in Karur has been incarcerated under judicial custody since his arrest on June 14, 2023 in connection with the cash for jobs scam, was forced to resign and had sent his resignation letter from Puzhal Prison to the Chief Minister through his lawyer.
After his arrest by the ED under PMLA, the Governor expressed displeasure over his continuance
in the State Cabinet and 'dismissed' him on June 29, 2023 but had kept the decision "in abeyance'
a few hours later on the advise of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Governor had termed hs continuance in the State Council of Minister was 'untenable' as he was
arrested by the ED, after his portfolios were allotted to other Minister and he was made to continue
as a Minister in the Cabinet without portfolio.
But the Chief Minister wrote back to the Governor the next day stating that the Minister would continue to remain in Cabinet and that it was his prerogative to decide on who should continue or not in his Cabinet.
Mr Stalin also said in the letter that the Governor has no powers to dismiss a Minister without the
recommendation of the Chief Minister.
It may be noted that on January 31, the Madras High Court while saying law is equal to all had
questioned the propriety behind the continuance of Senthilbalaji, who was arrested in a money laundering case by the ED and lodged in prison, as a Minister without portfolio in the Tamil Nadu Cabinet.
The court wondered as to how a person could be allowed to continue in the Cabinet even after incarceration for so long when even the last grade employee of the State is deemed to have been suspended from service if he/she remains incarcerated for more than 48 hours in a criminal case.
“When such is the severity shown in the case of a government employee, here you have a person who is continuing to be a Minister without portfolio when he is inside the prison. What type of a message are you giving to the public?” the judge had asked senior counsel C. Aryama Sundaram representing the Minister.
Mr Senthilbalaji was arrested on June 14, 2023 after day long ED raids at his residence and at his Ministerial Chamber in the State Secretariat, in connection with the cash-for-jobs scam during his tenure as the Transport Minister during the previous AIADMK regime. Later, he quit the party and joined the DMK and made Minister after the party came to power in the May 2021 Assembly polls.
After his arrest, the former Electricity Minister, continued to be retained in the State Cabinet by
Mr Stalin as a Minister without portfolio.
Soon after his arrest, he complained of chest pain while being taken to the ED Office, following
which he was admitted to Omandurar Multi-Super Speciality Hospital at the Government Estate.
After an angiogram revealed blocks in his heart, he was advised to undergo a coronary bypass surgery at a private hospital, where he had been periodically taking treatment prior to his arrest,
on the orders of the Madras High Court on a habeas corpus petition filed by his wife.
After his bail plea were dismissed by the courts on a couple of occasions, the Apex Curt granted him
bail on September 26, 2024 following which he was reinducted into the Cabinet with the same portfolios held by him.
And now the Supreme Court had taken a very serious view and asked him to decide on bail or
Ministry post giving time to him till Monday.
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Tags: #TN Min Senthilbalaji in horns of dilemma after SC strictures to decide on bail or Ministry post
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