DMK leader V Senthil Balaji resigned as Tamil Nadu minister, SC told

New Delhi | The Supreme Court was on Monday informed that DMK leader V Senthil Balaji stepped down as a Tamil Nadu minister and his resignation was accepted by Governor.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih perused a press release of the Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan which the state government submitted in court.

The top court, in the meantime, refused to accept the Enforcement Directorate's plea to bar Balaji from holding the post till trial in the case was over.

"A press release is handed over to us which records that he has tendered his resignation which has been accepted by the honourable Governor. Therefore, now there is no occasion to entertain this application," the bench said.

The apex court on April 23 asked Balaji to make a choice "between post and freedom" as it warned him of cancelling bail if he did not step down as minister in Tamil Nadu.

It took exception to the fact that Balaji was reinstated as a Tamil Nadu cabinet minister days after getting bail in a money laundering case related to the "cash-for-job" scam.

On September 26, 2024, the top court granted bail to Balaji, who had spent over 15 months in jail and observed there was no possibility of the completion of trial in the near future.

Balaji, 48, was sworn in as a minister by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on September 29, last year and was assigned the same key portfolios -- electricity, non-conventional energy development, prohibition and excise -- he held previously in the Stalin cabinet.

Balaji, representing Karur assembly constituency, was arrested on June 14, 2023 in the case when he was the transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime between 2011 and 2015.

On February 13, last year, the TN Governor accepted Balaji's resignation from the council of ministers. The top court's reprieve on September 26, 2024 ended Balaji's 471-day incarceration.

The ED had filed a case of money laundering in July 2021 to probe the allegations after three FIRs were registered by the Tamil Nadu police in 2018 and on the basis of complaints by those aggrieved in the alleged scam.

Its chargesheet claimed the entire recruitment process in the state transport department during his tenure as a minister was turned into a "corrupt chiefdom".