CHENNAI: A person who is not convicted in a criminal case cannot be removed from the council of ministers, argued Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram before the Madras High Court which is hearing a batch of cases related to minister Senthilbalaji, who is arrested by the ED in a Prevention of Money Laundering case leading to demands to remove him from the cabinet.
The Advocate General (AG) advanced his arguments before the first bench of the Madras High Court (MHC) comprising Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu, defending the state in a batch of petitions against the continuation of jailed Senthilbalaji in the council of ministers. The AG read out the clauses from the Constitution and Apex Court’s judgements.
The AG said that the Governor cannot act on his own will, he must arrive at an opinion based on the advice of the council of ministers. Further he said that the council of the minister is vested with the discretionary power, the governor must act with their accordance. The governor cannot act in conflict with the public representatives and cannot make unilateral decisions, the AG said.
The Senior counsel Sakthivel who appeared for the petitioner ML Ravi argued that the Governor of the State removed minister Senthilbalaji from the council of the ministers on the basis of criminal antecedents and tampering of evidence. He alleged that CM has let Senthilbalaji to continue in the council of ministers without portfolio. The governor has not kept the CM in the dark, he actually writes to the CM with reason for the removal of Senthilbalaji from the cabinet, he argued.
The Governor acted on the Constitutional ethos which should be accepted, he contended. The senior counsel contended that the Governor has the power to remove a minister under certain circumstances. In this case the Governor removed Senthilbalaji with reasons, so it is fit to be accepted, he said.
Senior counsel Raghavachari who appeared for J Jayavardhan contended that a tainted and incarcerated person cannot continue or be appointed as a minister. The bench ordered for written submissions and posted the matter for the next week.