The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Tamil Nadu government for naming 2,500 accused in a cash-for-jobs case allegedly involving former state minister V Senthil Balaji.
It said such “modus operandi” was a complete fraud on the system to ensure the trial does not conclude in Balaji’s lifetime.
The observation came as the court heard a petition of a victim of the cash-for-jobs, who challenged a March 28 Madras high court order allowing clubbing of four charge sheets against Balaji.
The Supreme Court said there are 2,000 accused in one set of cases and 500 in another. These accused are the alleged bribe givers who complained they did not get jobs as promised despite paying bribes.
A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi sought clarification on the consequence of the clubbing of the cases. “…While implicating these bribe-givers, 2,500 persons have been named as accused.”
The bench referred to the accused named in the four charge sheets and asked: “…who are the alleged middlemen to whom money was paid, who are the officers who acted on the minister’s behest, and who were on the board of appointments or the officials who carried out these appointments.”
Senior advocates Abhishek Singhvi and Amit Anand Tiwari, who represented the state, told the court that these details were in a related petition not listed before the court.
The bench directed all matters connected with the case to be listed together on Wednesday.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who argued the petition taken up on Tuesday, pointed out that the high court order directing a joint trial failed to note that the corrupt practices relate to separate appointments to the posts of assistant engineers, junior tradesmen, conductors, and drivers. He added that they are now being clubbed with corrupt practices in appointments to the posts of junior engineers.
The petition said offences framed under each charge sheet are not part of the same transaction and do not warrant a joint trial. It cited over 2,000 accused and 750 witnesses and said that even the cross-examination cannot be completed in decades.
Sankaranarayanan pointed out that the accused is a former minister and that earlier judgments of the Supreme Court in 2022 deprecated the alleged collusion between him and the state agencies. The court set aside compromise agreements between the accused and complainants while ordering the trial against the ex-minister would continue.
Balaji was relieved from his charge as a minister for electricity, prohibition, and excise when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in June 2023. He continued as a minister without portfolio until February 2024.
Balaji resigned ahead of the hearing on his bail petition in the high court. In September last year, the Supreme Court released him on bail. He was made a minister again. Balaji stepped down when the Supreme Court questioned his conduct and asked him to either opt for the post or his liberty while hearing a plea against his bail.