Madras High Court dismisses plea to order CBI probe into resignation of four MLAs

The Madras High Court, on Tuesday (June 16, 2026) dismissed a writ petition which sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged corrupt practices behind the resignation of four AIADMK MLAs who had joined the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) within minutes thereafter.

First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan said, the plea made by advocate B. Ramkumar Adityan of Tiruchendur could not be entertained when the entire edifice of his public interest litigation petition rests upon conjectures, suspicion and a total absence of foundational material facts to substantiate his allegations related to corrupt practices.

“A bare perusal of the asseverations made in the writ petition, styled as a public interest litigation, demonstrates that except making highly generalized, sweeping and vague allegations of corruption and financial inducement against the private respondents (the four former MLAs), the petitioner has not produced even an iota of tangible material before this court,” the Division Bench wrote.

The judges said, it was a well-settled principle of constitutional and criminal jurisprudence that an investigation by a specialized agency such as the CBI could not be ordered as a matter of course, solely based on the subjective belief of a litigant. Pleadings in a public interest litigation targeting public dignitaries and elected representatives must possess a high degree of precision and should be backed by relevant material obtained upon research, and not based on speculative hypothesis

“The law is unambiguous that a fishing or roving enquiry cannot be directed by a constitutional court under Article 226 of the Constitution based on vague assertions. The extraordinary power to direct an investigation by the CBI is to be exercised sparingly, cautiously, and only in exceptional situations where a prima facie case of a clear cognizable offence is established by evidentiary facts,” the Bench added.

Authoring the verdict for the Division Bench, the Chief Justice also observed: “In the case at hand, the petition itself is based on the assumption of corruption, without giving any details about the transactions or source of such information and, therefore, in our firm view, this public interest litigation is nothing but a classic example of a fishing expedition.”

The court, further, stated: “While a sudden realignment of political loyalty by respondent Nos. 12 to 15 (the four former MLAs) may cause financial strain due to the necessities of conducting a bye-election, such political choices do not ipso facto translate into criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act, in the complete absence of proof of an unlawful quid pro quo.”

In his affidavit, Mr. Adityan said, Maragatham Kumaravel, S. Jayakumar, P. Sathyabama and E. Subaya alias Esakki Subaya who had represented Madurantakam, Perundurai, Dharapuram and Ambasamudram constituencies respectively had resigned their MLA posts on May 25 and 26 and joined the TVK.

It was brought to the notice of the court the four former MLAs were part of a larger group of 25 AIADMK MLAs who had defied their party whip and voted in favour of the TVK government during a vote of confidence moved by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on the floor of the Assembly on May 13.

Even as a plea to initiate disqualification proceedings against them was pending before the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar, the first three MLAs had resigned from their posts as legislators on May 25 and joined the TVK within minutes after submission of their resignations and the fourth MLA Mr. Subaya had followed suit on May 26.

Claiming that the four former MLAs would not have resigned unless they had been induced by illicit gratification or promises of executive or remunerative political office, the petitioner said: “When viewed in the context of the events that unfolded… it becomes abundantly clear that the 11^th Respondent Party/TVK is engaging in horse-trading in an attempt to increase its tally of legislative members… This constitutes a murder of democracy.”