The Supreme Court today refused to interfere with the Madras High Court order directing a CBI probe into the alleged 397-crore rupee scam in the procurement of transformers in Tamil Nadu during the tenure of former Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji between 2021 and 2023. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta declined to entertain the plea challenging the High Court’s direction for a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of 45-thousand distribution transformers.

 

During the hearing, senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for a Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) official, argued that there was no specific prayer before the High Court seeking a CBI investigation and termed the proceedings politically motivated. However, the apex court observed that courts are empowered to order such probes if circumstances warrant. While dismissing the plea, the Supreme Court said the investigation should proceed independently without being influenced by any observations made by the High Court.

 

On April 29, the Madras High Court had ordered the CBI to conduct a fresh investigation into the alleged irregularities and directed the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption to hand over all related documents to the central agency within two weeks. The High Court also asked TANGEDCO, the DVAC and the Tamil Nadu government to fully cooperate with the probe.