Tamil Nadu Ministers Senthilbalaji, Ponmudy quit on strong court remarks

K. Ponmudy (left) and V. Senthilbalaji. File`
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Tamil Nadu Forest Minister K. Ponmudy and Electricity, Prohibition and Excise Minister V. Senthilbalaji resigned on Sunday (April 27, 2025) night.

A Raj Bhavan release said Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has recommended Governor R.N. Ravi to accept their resignation. The Chief Minister also recommended the induction of former Minister Mano Thangaraj into the Cabinet. The swearing-in will be held on April 28 at the Raj Bhavan.

Also Read | Supreme Court takes stern view of reinstating Senthilbalaji as Tamil Nadu Cabinet Minister

In the wake of their resignations, Mr. Ponmudy’s department has been allotted to Milk and Dairy Development Minister R.S. Rajakannappan. Transport Minister S.S. Sivasankar will hold the portfolio of Electricity, while Housing and Urban Development Minister S. Muthusamy will hold Prohibition and Excise departments held by Mr. Senthilbalaji.

The continuation of Mr. Ponmudy and Mr. Senthibalaji became untenable after courts made strong remarks against them.

In the case of Mr. Senthilbalaji, the Supreme Court made it clear that he had to make a choice between his Minister post and freedom. This is the second time he is stepping down as a Minister. Though he continued as a Minister without portfolio after his arrest in June 2023 by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, he resigned from the Cabinet on February 12, 2024. He was reinstated after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the case on September 26, 2024.

But a Supreme Court Bench took objection to his induction into the Cabinet and Justices A.S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan on April 23 said Mr. Senthilbalaji’s continuation as a Minister placed him in a position of influence with regard to witnesses, and he could derail the trial.

Justice Oka remarked that the Bench would even record in its order that it had been a “mistake” to grant him bail and observed that he had been given bail not on the merits of the case but because the court stood up for the fundamental right to personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Derogatory speech

Mr. Ponmudy ran into trouble after the Madras High Court directed its Registry to take up a suo motu writ petition with respect to a derogatory speech by him against Saivites, Vaishnavites and women in general. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh issued the direction after observing that the Minister had prima facie misused the liberty granted to him by the Supreme Court which had stayed his conviction as well as sentence in a corruption case.

Subsequently, the first Bench of the Madras High Court granted time till June 5 for the Tamil Nadu government as well as Mr. Ponmudy, in his individual capacity, to respond to a public interest litigation petition filed by an advocate to disqualify the Minister from holding any constitutional post due to his recent derogatory speech.

Chief Justice K.R. Shriram and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq directed State Government Pleader to take notice on behalf of the Home Secretary and ordered notice to Mr. Ponmudy too seeking their response to the case by June 5. The judges directed the High Court Registry to list the matter again on June 19 for further hearing.