Resign as minister in week’s time or lose bail: SC warns Senthil Balaji

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday warned Electricity Minister Senthil Balaji that if he does not resign from his ministership, the bail granted to him in the money laundering case linked to the ‘cash-for-jobs’ scam would be cancelled.

The two-judge bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih gave Balaji time till next Monday (April 28) to decide.

The court, which took strong objection to Balaji becoming a minister soon after he got bail, was hearing the applications filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking recall of the bail granted to him for “influencing witnesses in the case”.

The Supreme Court granted bail to Balaji in the money laundering case on September 26 last year.

But immediately after getting bail, Balaji took oath as minister, assuming charge of the portfolios of electricity, non-conventional energy, and excise in Chief Minister M K Stalin’s cabinet on September 29.

SC bench says it erred by ignoring previous judgments against Balaji

During the hearing on Wednesday, the bench questioned his conduct and reappointment by referring to the observations in a previous judgment which recorded that as a minister, he had forced people to withdraw the complaints filed against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Justice Oka said the bail was granted only on the grounds of delay in trial and long incarceration. “You were granted bail not on merits, but on the ground of Article 21 violation.”

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, for the Enforcement Directorate, pointed out that Balaji, to plead for bail, had said that he had resigned as a minister. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Balaji, said that the trial can be shifted out of the state if there was an apprehension of him influencing witnesses.

“That will not serve the purpose. There are 1,000 witnesses,” Justice Oka said. Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, for a witness who is alleging intimidation by Balaji, said, “He (Senthil Balaji) can move out of the state.”

The court remarked what signals the Supreme Court would be sending if such a person is allowed to be on bail, despite the categorical findings in the earlier judgment about the role played by him in the predicate offence. The court also pointed out that his resignation as a minister was cited as a “change in circumstances “to plead for bail, but soon after the bail was granted, he took oath as a minister.”

The SC said the bench will say that it made a mistake by ignoring the previous judgment (which had findings against Balaji). “We will record it in the order that we have made a mistake by ignoring the judgements against you, because the entire hearing proceeded on the footing that he is no longer minister. We will accept our mistake,” Justice Oka said.

“What troubles us is that for the first time in a PMLA case, we have applied a law that if case is not going to commence, we will grant bail. When we read the order of the trial court and the HC, we were told that he is no longer a minister. Therefore we ignored the allegation based on the judgements on the ground that he is no longer minister.

Now you bring about a change within few days of order granting bail and he is again the minister,” the court added. Severely criticising Balaji for being reappointed as minister, the court said, “This is not the way to deal with the court. After that don’t blame us that this court is not liberal in granting bail. You know how difficult it is to get bail in PMLA,” Justice Oka said.