E-Paper
Apex court ensures fair trial for former TN minister Senthil Balaji
Balaji, who is facing trial in the two cases, had filed two applications urging the top court to consider expunging adverse observations against him contained in judgments of the top court in September 2022 and May 2023, apprehending that the same will affect his trial by prejudicing the courts below
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday ensured a fair trial to former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji in the cash-for-jobs scam by directing that its two orders reviving trial against him in separate cases probed by the state and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will not prejudice the ongoing trial against him.
Balaji, who is facing trial in the two cases, had filed two applications urging the top court to consider expunging adverse observations against him contained in judgments of the top court in September 2022 and May 2023, apprehending that the same will affect his trial by prejudicing the courts below.
A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi questioned the former minister in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for filing the application after so many years in a bid to avoid the bench which originally passed the orders. The bench had recently scoffed at the practice followed by lawyers to file applications to expunge adverse remarks long after the judges who authored the same have retired.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Balaji said that he is not pressing for expunging the remarks. “I only seek a clarification based on the general principles of law that the judgments cited in this application will have no bearing on the ongoing trial,” Sibal said.
The suggestion was opposed by the victims of the cash-for-jobs scam led by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan and Balaji Srinivasan claiming that the conduct of the former minister had invited these comments from the court. The court said, “Don’t think of hanging someone o this count. The basic principle that we follow is that whatever we say here , whatever observations, will not have effect on the pending trial.”
The court disposed the applications by making a clarification to this effect.
The allegations against Balaji pertain to the period from 2011 to 2015 when he was transport minister in the then AIADMK government.
His application referred to specific paragraphs contained in the September 8, 2022 judgment where the court discussed the role of the transport minister (as Balaji then was) and another accused Shanmugham, the minister’s personal assistant.
Referring to the portions in the judgment against him, Balaji’s application said, “The present application is necessitated by the applicant’s genuine and bona fide apprehension that certain observations contained in this court’s judgment dated September 8, 2022 in P. Dharamaraj v. Shanmugam (2022) have the unintended consequence of impinging upon the applicant’s right to a fair trial.”
The other application questioned the observations contained in May 16, 2023 order by which proceedings initiated by ED were allowed to continue.
Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged money laundering charges in June 2023. He was granted bail by the top court in September 2024 considering the long list of witnesses in the case and the improbability of the trial ending soon. Presently, the trial in both the cases - PMLA case and the predicate offence, is proceeding separately against Balaji before a special court hearing cases related to MP/MLAs.
After his release on bail, he was soon inducted as a Minister. The court had taken serious exception to this conduct of Balaji while dealing with an application to recall his bail. After the court directed him to choose either his liberty or the post, Balaji resigned on April 27, putting a quietus to the application moved against him.
