Senthil Balaji
New Delhi: On Thursday, June 29, Senthil Balaji was dismissed abruptly by Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi from the Council of Ministers, igniting a conflict between the governor and the state’s DMK-led administration.
Raj Bhavan said in an official release that Balaji “is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of cases of corruption. It includes taking cash for jobs and money laundering. Abusing his position as a minister, he has been influencing the investigation and obstructing the due process of law and justice.”
Senthil Balaji Dismissed
“There are reasonable apprehensions that continuation of V. Senthil Balaji in the Council of Ministers will adversely impact the due process of law, including fair investigation that may eventually lead to the breakdown of Constitutional machinery in the State” the release said. “Under these circumstances, the governor has dismissed Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect,” it added.
The order was issued notwithstanding Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s June 17 decision to keep him on as a minister without portfolio. In response to the governor’s action, Stalin stated that the governor lacked the authority to remove a minister from the Cabinet.
A rare case in Indian Political history
On June 14, Balaji was detained by the government’s Enforcement Directorate in connection with a purported money laundering investigation. Since then, he has been in judicial detention. It is unusual in India’s political history for a governor to “fire” a minister in this way without the Chief Minister’s approval.
P.D.T. Achary, a renowned constitutional expert and former secretary general of the Lok Sabha, had commented on the matter at the time and had informed that while the governor is the person who appoints the chief minister, he can only do so on the recommendation of the chief minister, and that “if a minister has to be removed from the post, it can only be on the advice of the chief minister.”
