Melting under its ultimatum to choose between being a minister or freedom, the Supreme Court on Monday was informed that Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji has resigned from Chief Minister MK Stalin’s government and the same has been accepted by the State Governor RN Ravi.

Perusing a press release of the Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan which the state government submitted in court, a bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih disposed off a petition seeking the recall of its September 26, 2024 judgment by which Senthil Balaji was granted bail in a ‘cash for job’ scam being prosecuted both by the CBI and the anti-money laundering agency Directorate of Enforcement (ED).

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However, 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.

The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the bench to impose a condition that Balaji should not become a Minister again while the matter is pending. He cited the case of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in an alleged excise policy case, where similar conditions were imposed.

Solicitor General Mehta, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, said that without such a condition, Balaji will return as a minister after a month, making the Court and the agency a “laughing stock” – an apparent indication that Justice Oka will retire on May 24, 2025.

Addressing the apprehension of the Solicitor General Mehta, Justice Oka said, “Your apprehension is that he will again become minister? At that stage, you can apply for cancellation of bail.”

Soon after the induction of Senthil Balaji in the Tamil Nadu government after grant of bail to him, one K Vidhya Kumar had moved an application seeking the cancellation of his bail.

Induction of Senthil Balaji as a cabinet minister in the Chief Minister Stalin lead DMK government day after he was granted bail on September 26, 2024, had irked the top court which had granted bail to DMK leader noting that he has already quit as a minister, there are more than 2000 accused, the number of witnesses proposed to be examined, may exceed 600 and the trial of the scheduled offences and, consequently, the PMLA offence is not likely to be completed in three to four years or even more.

The top court by its September 26, 2024, judgment, had also noted that Senthil Balaji has already undergone incarceration of over 15 months in the PMLA case being prosecuted by the ED. The top court had also noted that the minimum sentence under Section 4 of the PMLA is three years, which may extend to seven years.

On an ultimatum, the top court on April 23, 2025, had asked Senthil Balaji to choose between the post (Minister) or freedom and had given him a week’s time to make a choice.

In the last hearing of the matter, Justice Oka had said that resignation as a Minister in Tamil Nadu government was cited as a change of circumstance for seeking bail from the Madras High Court but soon after he was granted bail by the Supreme court he was inducted as Minister in Chief Minister Stalin’s government.

Justice Oka had wondered what signals the Supreme Court would be sending if such a person is allowed to be on bail, despite the categorical findings in the 2024 judgment about Senthil Balaji’s role in ‘cash for job’ scam.

Senthil Balaji was arrested on June 14, 2023 in an alleged ‘cash for job’ case. He was transport minister between 2011-2016 in the AIADMK government headed by the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

It is alleged that as transport minister money was collected from the aspirants who were promised jobs in the transport department as drivers, conductors, junior tradesmen, junior engineers, assistant engineers etc.

The top court on December 2, 2024, had expressed concern over Senthil Balaji being appointed as a Cabinet Minister in the state government day after he was granted bail in a money laundering case relating to an alleged cash-for-jobs scam case being investigated by the Directorate of Enforcement.