[TN recruitment scam] Order quashing proceedings against Minister Senthil Balaji challenged before Supreme Court

The Supreme Court recently issued notice in a petition challenging an order of the Madras High Court quashing criminal proceedings against four persons including V Senthil Balaji, current Tamil Nadu Minister of Electricity [P Dharamaraj v. Shanmugam]..- The Madras High Court quashed criminal proceedings against Balaji and three others in a case pertaining to an alleged scam;- High Court quashed the case on the ground that a compromise was made between the complainants and the accused;- The petitioner before Supreme Court claimed that the order was erroneous since it was established law that courts should not quash proceedings in serious offences;- It was stated that the compromise was simply a cover-up, and probably arrived at because of coercion;- Petitioner sought an independent probe into the matter..A Bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli heard the petition that claimed that the High Court had erroneously quashed criminal proceedings against the accused, who ran a scam guaranteeing government employment in return for money..The High Court had essentially quashed the proceedings on the ground that a compromise had been made between the complainants and the accused. However, the petitioner contended that this compromise was just a cover-up, and the affidavits filed by the affected people were false and most likely written under coercion..The plea stated that such quashing was against the law laid down by the top court in Gian Singh v. State of Punjab where it was held that courts should not quash proceedings in serious offences involving crimes against society.The petitioner expressed concerns that if the High Court’s order was not interfered with, it would set a trend of precedent where illegality could be perpetrated against those from lower economic strata who are defrauded in the name of employment opportunities by politically influential people..Further, it was contended that the High Court had ignored overwhelming evidence that corroborated the scale of the scam and the extent of the accused persons’ involvement. It was submitted that the prosecution also intentionally, to mislead the Court, and did not press on the offences pertaining to the Prevention of Corruption Act and acquiesced to the plea of the accused despite being aware of the scale of the scam..Therefore, the petitioner urged the apex court to appoint an independent and impartial Special Prosecutor to investigate and supervise the proceedings arising from the alleged scam..Senior Advocate KV Vishwanathan along with Advocate-on-Record Balaji Srinivasan, Advocates Pallavi Sengupta, Aakriti Priya, Lakshmi Rao, Garima Jain, Prateek Yadav, Mohammed Shahrukh, Suhail Ahme and MBRS Raju appeared for the petitioner..[Recruitment scam] Madras High Court quashes case against Electricity Minister Senthil Balaji after victims, accused settle matter.[Read Order]