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Minister without portfolio a travesty: HC on Balaji
The contention of the petitioners that though the minister is disabled from performing work, he enjoys the perks and allowances at the cost of the public exchequer
Chennai:
The Madras high court on Tuesday left it to the wisdom of chief minister MK Stalin to take a decision on whether V Senthil Balaji , who currently is a minister in the state cabinet without a portfolio, should continue to hold his ministerial position.
The court also put forth that it “serves no purpose and does not augur well with the Principles of Constitutional ethos on goodness, good governance and purity in administration.”
The state government argued that neither the Constitution nor the Act of 1951 disqualifies a person to be a Member of the State Legislative Assembly after he is under custody or is undergoing trial and no other disqualification is prescribed for a person of the Legislative Assembly to be a minister. The contention of the petitioners that though the minister is disabled from performing work, he enjoys the perks and allowances at the cost of the public exchequer. “Certainly, no purpose is served by just ceremonially retaining him as a minister,” the court said.
Observing that the chief minister is an Executive head who assigns ministerial responsibilities, the court said that there cannot be moral or Constitutional basis to retain such an MLA as a minister without portfolio. “The founding fathers of our Constitution may not have comprehended corrosion of good and clean governance to an extent that a person would be retained as a minister without portfolio, that too while in custody nor did they envisaged that the Executive head would reward an elected member the status of a minister, though finding him not fit to discharge the responsibilities of a Minster, the court said.
The bench on Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi removing Balaji as a minister on June 29 on ‘moral turpitude’ and a few hours later keeping that in abeyance said, in the absence of any statutory disqualification incurred by Balaji, it would not be permissible for the Court to issue certain directions to the governor.
“... it will have to be held that if the governor chooses to ‘withdraw his pleasure’ in respect of a minister, he must exercise his discretion with the knowledge of the chief minister and not unilaterally.”
While experts said that the governor’s actions do not withstand legal scrutiny, the DMK government at that time said that they were disregarding the governor’s letters.
The Enforcement Directorate arrested Balaji on June 14 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for a case dating back to 2014 when he was transport minister under the AIADMK regime. He was hospitalised from the time of his arrest and underwent a heart surgery. The chief minister reallocated his portfolios of electricity and excise duty and prohibition on grounds of his health even as he continues to be under judicial custody and presently in Puzhal Central Prison.
“The present petition brings to the fore the erosion of the high standards of character and conduct demanded from the Members of the Legislature,” the court said. “The petitioners expect and legitimately so high standards of moral conduct by the persons in power. The chief minister is the repository of the people’s faith. Political compulsion cannot outweigh the public morality, requirements of good/clean governance and Constitutional morality.”
