Senthilbalaji case: Minister can stay in Cabinet till conviction, argues AG

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.