Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi suo motu sacks minister V Senthil Balaji

Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi on Thursday dismissed state minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested earlier this month over an alleged cash-for-job scam and is undergoing treatment for heart ailments in judicial custody.

The decision was made without consulting chief minister MK Stalin, deepening the standoff between the governor and the ruling DMK. Stalin said the state government would legally challenge the dismissal of the minister.

"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 breakdown of constitutional machinery in the State," the Raj Bhavan said in a news release. Under these circumstances, "the governor has dismissed Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers with immediate effect", it said.


Stalin said the governor did not have the right to dismiss a sitting minister. "We will face this legally," he told reporters.

In its statement, the Raj Bhavan said Balaji was facing "serious criminal proceedings in a number of cases of corruption, including taking cash for jobs and money laundering".

It claimed that he was "abusing his position as a minister, he has been influencing the investigation and obstructing the due process of law and justice".

Balaji is in judicial custody till July 12 in a money-laundering case linked to the cash-for-jobs scam being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. The case dates back to 2011-2015, when he was a minister in the then AIADMK government. He had allegedly taken bribes from job aspirants seeking appointments in the state transport department. He later joined the DMK.