'Cricket stadium will be needed': Supreme Court on trying over 2,000 accused, 500 witnesses in Senthil Balaji cash-for-jobs case 

The Supreme Court on Wednesday criticised the Tamil Nadu government for naming over 2,000 people as accused in the cash-for-jobs scam involving former minister V Senthil Balaji. The court asked the state to submit details of all the accused and witnesses in the case.

Calling the trial “a rudderless ship”, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said that the state appeared unwilling to proceed with the matter seriously and noted that the cases could have been quietly closed if the judiciary had not intervened, news agency PTI reported.

"With over 2000 accused and 500 witnesses it will be the most populated trial of India. A small courtroom of the trial court will not suffice and a cricket stadium will be needed to even mark the presence of the accused. Several Artificial Intelligence-generated accused will pop up to mark their presence," the bench told senior advocate Gopal Sankaranaryanan, who appeared for Y Balaji, representing victims of the scam and opposing the clubbing of cases.

The court also discussed the appointment of a special public prosecutor, telling senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who appeared for the state: “When a powerful minister and affluent people are accused in a case, there is a perception that a lone public prosecutor will not be able to do justice.”

On Tuesday, the court had already expressed displeasure over what it described as the Tamil Nadu government "attempting to delay" the trial by naming more than 2,000 people as accused. It described the move as a "complete fraud on the judicial system".

Senthil Balaji resigned from the M K Stalin-led cabinet on April 27 after being pulled up by the top court. Earlier, on April 23, the court had asked him to make a choice “between post and freedom” and warned that his bail would be cancelled if he did not resign.

The court also took note of the fact that Balaji was brought back into the Cabinet shortly after securing bail in a money laundering case linked to the scam.

He was granted bail by the Supreme Court on September 26, 2024, in a case investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. At the time, the court observed that Balaji had already spent over 15 months in jail and that there was little chance of the trial concluding soon.

On September 29 last year, Balaji was sworn in again as minister and was assigned the same portfolios like electricity, non-conventional energy development, prohibition, and excise that he had previously held in the Stalin cabinet.