Remorseful: NGO on TN govt’s inaction in Senthilbalaji’s job racket case

CHENNAI: We are remorseful for moving a petition challenging the special court’s order clubbing all the charge sheets in the alleged job racket case against Minister V Senthilbalaji, as the State government is keeping its mouth shut about the issue and has failed to ensure speedy justice, rued a non-governmental organisation before the Madras High Court.

Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan heard the petition moved by the Anti-Corruption Movement seeking to de-club the main case related to the alleged offence of Senthilbalaji receiving a bribe for the posts of junior engineers in the transport department.

Advocate N Subramaniyan on behalf of the petitioner organisation submitted that the special judge doesn't have the power to club the cases.

The clubbing of all charge sheets has enormously increased the quantum of the accused from 47 to 2,256 and witnesses from 112 to 668, making the case complicated. This would lead to a situation where the trial would not be completed even after a thousand years, submitted the advocate.

The trial conducted separately in the main offence alone will unearth the truth in three weeks, he said. Referring to section 224 of CrPC, he submitted that if a person charged with several offences gets convicted in one of the offences, then the prosecution may withdraw other charges with court's permission for speedy justice.

He also said that the State’s inaction shows it didn’t consider the public interest at large. It is a sorry state of affairs, he added.

Government advocate KMD Muhilan submitted that the State has no objection to de-clubbing the charge sheet, but it was a decision taken by the special court. After all the submissions, the judge reserved the orders without mentioning any specific date.

In 2015, several persons filed complaints with the Central Crime Branch against Senthilbalaji and his brother Ashok Kumar that they didn’t provide any posting in the transport department as promised, even after receiving money.

The investigation agency filed the charge sheet for receiving a bribe between 2014 to 2015 when Senthilbalaji was the transport minister in the AIADMK government. It also sought further prosecution in connection with the case and filed supplementary charge sheets.

On October 1, 2024, the special court for hearing cases related to MPs/MLAs clubbed all the charge sheets which increased the quantum of prosecution witnesses and accused persons.