Madras High Court directs Chennai Principal Sessions Court to hear bail plea of V Senthil Balaji

The Madras High Court Monday said that the principal sessions court in Chennai, which is the designated special court for cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), is competent to conduct the trial in the money laundering case against Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji..A division bench of Justices R Suresh Kumar and K Kumaresh Babu, therefore, directed it to hear the bail application filed by Balaji in the case.The Court passed the order on a plea filed by Balaji seeking clarification after both the sessions court and the special court for cases against MPs and MLAs had refused to hear his bail application citing lack of jurisdiction.The bench of Justices Kumar and Babu accordingly, set aside an order passed by the principal sessions judge that had transferred the money laundering case to the special court for exclusive trial of cases against MPs and MLAs.The High Court said that such transfer order was not in consonance with PMLA..The Court noted that Balaji had been charged under Section 4 of the PMLA and the Act was clear that offences punishable under Section 4 and any scheduled offence connected to the same were to be tried by the special PMLA court constituted for the territorial area in which the offence had been committed.“That being the position, the territorial jurisdiction of the case on hand, is also Chennai, and comes under the jurisdiction of the principal district judge of Chennai. Naturally, the said case- since the alleged offence is to be punished under section 4 of PMLA- has to be tried by it. Therefore, the bail application, also in our considered view, has to be heard and disposed only by the principal sessions judge, Chennai,” the High Court said..The Court, accordingly, directed the principal sessions judge to take back the case papers from the special court for MPs and MLA cases and to dispose of the minister’s bail application expeditiously..Balaji was arrested on June 14 after undergoing questioning by the ED in a money laundering case. The charges are from the time of his tenure as the transport minister during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government from 2011 to 2015..Senior counsel NR Elango appeared for Balaji.Special public prosecutor N Ramesh appeared for the Enforcement Directorate..[Read Order]