The Supreme Court has upheld the Madras High Court’s decision to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged irregularities amounting to Rs 397 crore in transformer procurements during the tenure of former Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V. Senthil Balaji between 2021 and 2023. The Supreme Court bench, led by Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta, dismissed a plea challenging the CBI inquiry direction.
During the hearing, senior advocate Siddharth Dave, representing a TANGEDCO official, argued that there was no specific request for a CBI investigation before the Madras High Court and suggested that the case had political motivations. However, the bench observed that a Constitutional court could order an independent investigation if deemed necessary.
The Supreme Court declined to entertain the Special Leave Petition (SLP), emphasizing that the investigation should proceed independently without being influenced by any prior observations from the Madras High Court. The Madras High Court had directed a fresh CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in the procurement of approximately 45,000 distribution transformers between 2021 and 2023.
The division bench of Chief Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan had instructed the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to transfer all relevant case records to the CBI and appoint an officer to lead the investigation within two weeks. The Madras High Court had also mandated full cooperation from the state government, TANGEDCO, and DVAC to ensure prompt handover of all necessary documents to the CBI.
