New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday refused to expunge its remarks against former Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji in its September 2022 order restoring criminal complaints and other verdicts against him in the cash-for-job case.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said it would not modify or "touch a single word" in the 2022 order or any judgement in the case as it deprecated the practice of filing pleas for modification of orders in the top court after retirement of judges who penned such verdicts.

"This practice of filing an application after the judges who passed the order or judgement was as bad as forum shopping. These applications can be dismissed on this ground alone," Justice Kant said.

The bench, however, said the adverse remarks made against Balaji in the order won't affect the pending proceedings before the trial court.

"We will not expunge anything, we will not touch a single word in the order and we are not going to touch or modify any judgment. However, we will only clarify that the observations shall have no bearing on the trial. That's a basic principle of criminal jurisprudence...Basic principles are always to be followed. There's no question of entertaining any review," the bench said.

The three applications for expunging the remarks relate to a May 2023 verdict allowing the ED to probe against Balaji while quashing a Madras High Court order for a fresh investigation; a September 2022 decision restoring the trial against him and last year's order refusing to cancel his bail in the money laundering case.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Balaji, did not press for the relief and instead sought the court to say its observations should not influence the trial in the case.

"Applications are disposed of with a clarification that the observations shall have no bearing on the pending trial," the bench ordered.

The top court also questioned Balaji's conduct saying he filed the applications after a gap of two years for modification of the verdicts when both judges had retired.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who represents one of the victims in the case, said in the matter relating to challenges against clubbing of the FIRs, top five accused persons in the cases were the ex-minister and his close aides, aside from 25 officials and the rest being other accused persons (bribe givers).

He also said a status report in the case indicated over 350 witnesses yet to be examined in the case.

The top court said it would hear in detail the plea challenging clubbing of the FIR on August 13.

On April 27, Balaji resigned from the M K Stalin-led state cabinet after the top court on April 23 asked Balaji to make a choice "between post and freedom" as it warned him of cancelling bail if he did not step down as minister in Tamil Nadu.

Balaji was reinstated as a Tamil Nadu cabinet minister days after getting bail in a money laundering case related to the "cash-for-job" scam.

The ED filed a money laundering case in July 2021 to probe the allegations after three FIRs were registered by Tamil Nadu Police in 2018 and on the basis of complaints by those aggrieved in the alleged scam. PTI MNL MNL AMK AMK