The Supreme Court on Monday declined to delete its earlier observations against former Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji in connection with the “cash-for-job” scam, ruling that it would not “touch a single word” of its past orders. The court, however, clarified that those remarks would have no bearing on the pending trial.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi dismissed three applications seeking expunction of adverse observations made in previous verdicts, including its September 2022 order restoring criminal complaints against Balaji, a May 2023 ruling allowing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe him, and last year’s order refusing to cancel his bail.
“This practice of filing an application after the judges who passed the order or judgment have retired is as bad as forum shopping,” Justice Kant remarked, adding that such pleas could be dismissed on that ground alone. The court emphasised that basic principles of criminal jurisprudence require that trial courts decide matters uninfluenced by higher court observations on merits.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Balaji, did not press for expunction but sought a clarification that the remarks should not influence the trial. The bench accepted this limited request, disposing of the applications with the clarification.
The court also questioned the timing of Balaji’s applications, noting they were filed two years after the judgments and only after the retirement of the judges who authored them.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for a victim, informed the court that in the case related to the clubbing of FIRs, the top five accused included the ex-minister, his close aides, and 25 officials, with over 350 witnesses yet to be examined. The Supreme Court is set to hear the plea challenging the clubbing of FIRs on August 13.
Balaji resigned from the M.K. Stalin-led cabinet on April 27 this year after the apex court warned he must choose “between post and freedom” or risk cancellation of his bail. He was later reinstated as a minister. The ED registered a money laundering case against him in July 2021 based on multiple FIRs lodged in 2018 by the Tamil Nadu Police over allegations that government jobs were sold for bribes.
