No floor test in TN assembly till Sept 20

Ruling on a petition filed by sacked AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran for an early floor test, the Madras high court on Thursday ordered that the floor test will not be held before September 20.

Justice M Duraiswamy stayed the vote after apprehensions were cited by Kapil Sibal, lawyer for DMK leader MK Stalin, that 19 MLAs could be dismissed to convert the minority government into a majority.

The court ruling prevents any change in the composition of the assembly where according to the numbers, the Palanisami governhas just 114 MLAs supporting it as against the halfway mark of 117.

The court asked the government representative if action was taken against the 19 MLAs and told him to clarify the issue before Thursday evening.

Advocate general Vijay Narayan submitted to the court that action against the MLAs siding with Dinakaran was already initiated by the Speaker and the court could not intervene in the powers of the legislature.

“At this stage, we cannot say what the action against the MLAs will be. It is still underway and no decision has been taken yet,” Narayan said.

P Vetrivel, a senior MLA of the Dinakaran camp, has already met the Speaker twice in connection with the notice issued to the MLAs for an explanation, the deadline for which expired on Thursday.

Meanwhile, sources said acting Tamil Nadu governor C Vidyasagar Rao was scheduled to arrive in Chennai on Monday.