The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed a PIL petition seeking to reject the nomination of AIADMK candidate for Aravakurichi constituency, Senthil Balaji, stating that an FIR was pending against him.
However, in the event of Mr. Balaji submitting his nomination the First Bench of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan directed the investigating agency to file a progress report on the criminal case pending against him.
Dismissing the PIL petition moved by Baskar, a Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) employee who had allegedly collected Rs 4.25 crore from job aspirants and paid it to the then Transport Minister, the Bench said, “We are of the view that as far as the electoral process is concerned, no interference can be caused merely because an FIR is registered against the person. This is not the law of the land as it stands today, as neither the final report has been filed nor charges have been framed nor there is any conviction. We are, thus, not inclined to grant the relief as prayed for by the petitioner but feel that we may see the progress of the investigation.”
According to the petitioner, neither jobs were given nor the money was refunded to the aspirants, and when he insisted on returning the money, he was arrested on false charges and threatened with dire consequences.
On March 8, all the affected people approached the Chennai City Commissioner of Police requesting action against Mr. Balaji. Since no action was initiated the petitioner approached the high court to register an FIR against the then minister.
After the intervention of the high court, the case was transferred to the Central Crime Branch (CCB).
