In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court of India dismissed a petition against the Madras High Court’s September 2023 verdict. The High Court’s decision permitted Tamil Nadu’s chief minister to determine whether Minister V. Senthil Balaji, implicated in a money-laundering case tied to a jobs-for-cash scandal, should remain in the state cabinet. Justices Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan of the apex court decided not to interfere with the High Court’s judgment under the Article 136 of the Indian Constitution, which allows the Supreme Court to hear ‘Special Leave Petitions’ in the interest of justice.
Information circulating reports suggests that the highest court in India posits that a governor requires a chief minister’s recommendation to remove a sitting minister who is in custody and cannot do so independently.
Allegations lodged against Balaji, the current Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister, revolve around soliciting bribes from third parties by offering jobs in the Transport Department. These allegations pertain to his term as the state’s Transport Minister from 2011 to 2015. Based on the severity of the charges, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India arrested him on June 14, 2023, and he remains in judicial custody until January 11. After the arrest, he was stripped of all his ministerial responsibilities, but he stayed on in the cabinet. The High Court, rejecting RL Ravi’s plea against Balaji’s retention, stated that neither the Constitution nor the Representation of People Act of 1951 disqualifies a person in custody from remaining a member of the State Legislative Assembly.
All details referenced here can be found in the original article on JURIST – News.