The Supreme Court has rejected a request to appoint a special public prosecutor to handle the proceedings in three cases involving former Tamil Nadu Minister and DMK leader V Senthil Balaji, related to the cash-for-job scam.

A bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih, however, expressed concern over the seven-month delay by the Governor in granting sanction for V Senthil Balaji's prosecution and requested a report from the trial judge on the status of the cases. The court was informed by counsel that the sanction had been granted on August 23, 2024.

"We have perused the additional affidavit filed by the concerned Secretary of the state government stating that in all three cases, proposal for grant of sanction to prosecute Balaji was submitted to the office of the Governor on 4th January, 2024. We were wondering why such a long time of 07 months was required to deal with the proposal for sanction," the bench said. 

The Tamil Nadu government submitted an affidavit highlighting the experience and credentials of the current Public Prosecutor, P Washington Dhanasekaran.

The court instructed the Assistant Sessions Judge of the Additional Special Court for the Trial of Cases related to Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu, Chennai, to provide a report on the status of the cases in question and details of other pending cases in his court.

The court also directed the Registrar (Judicial) to send a copy of the order to the Assistant Sessions Judge, who is to submit a sealed report before the next hearing.

Regarding the plea for appointing a Special Public Prosecutor, the bench stated that no evidence had been presented to indicate that the current prosecutor was incompetent.

"Therefore, as of today, we are not inclined to consider the request for appointing a special Public Prosecutor," the bench said.

The court emphasized that Public Prosecutors appointed to handle prosecutions against Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assembly before Special Courts, established by the Supreme Court's directives, are expected to understand the significant responsibilities of their roles.

The bench noted that these trials are under the Court's supervision, and the Prosecutor must perform as an officer of the Court.

The matter is scheduled for further consideration on September 30, to review the report from the trial court. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Balaji Srinivasan represented the applicant, Y Balaji, while senior advocate A.M. Singhvi appeared for the DMK leader.