New Delhi [India], June 21 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere, as of now, with the Madras High Court order allowing Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji to be moved to a private hospital in Chennai and entertaining a habeas corpus petition filed against his arrest.
A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and MM Sundresh decided to wait for the hearing going to take place on June 22 before the High Court. The bench deferred and posted the plea filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the High Court order for hearing on July 4.
ED approached the apex court contending that the Madras High Court erred in entertaining a habeas corpus petition filed by Balaji's wife. The bench noted that the High Court was yet to render its opinion on the matter concerning the habeas petition's maintainability and thus it would wait for the High Court's order.
"High Court is yet to render its final option on habeas corpus petition and the exclusion of period of treatment undergone by the detenue (Balaji) from the period of custodial interrogation and since both these issues are likely to be examined by the High Court tomorrow or thereafter, we deem it appropriate to post this SLP for further hearing on next date," the top court stated in its order.
The bench also said that case pending in the top court shall not be taken as a ground to adjourn the matter by the High Court. It said that observations made by the High Court or any observation made by the apex court shall have no bearing on the case, the order added.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Enforcement Directorate told the bench that High Court order sets a wrong precedent. The Enforcement Directorate approached the apex court against Madras High Court order allowing Balaji to be moved to a private hospital in Chennai from the government hospital following his arrest by the ED.
The Minister for Electricity as well as Prohibition and Excise, Balaji, was arrested on June 14 and admitted to a government hospital in Chennai after he complained of chest pain. He was allowed by the Madras High Court on June 15 to be shifted to a private hospital of his choice.
He was later taken from the Tamil Nadu government Multi Super Speciality Hospital to Kauvery Hospital at Alwarpet. Doctors attending to him have recommended bypass surgery.
The interim order of the High Court was passed on a habeas corpus petition filed by the Minister's wife, Megala, who accused probe agency officials of not having followed due procedures, such as intimating the grounds of arrest, under the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.).
His wife wanted the arrest itself to be declared illegal for the ED's failure to comply with the legal procedures. The ED had arrested Balaji in connection with an Enforcement Case Information Register (ECIR) filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2021.
The ECIR was registered on the basis of three FIRs booked against him by the local police in 2018 for his alleged involvement in a cash-for-job case when he was the Transport Minister in Jayalalithaa's Cabinet in 2015.
The charges date back to his tenure as transport minister during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government from 2011 to 2015. He joined the DMK in December 2018 and assumed office as the Electricity Minister after the party came to power in May 2021.
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