Court ruling offers relief for AIADMK

HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DISQUALIFICATION OF 18 MLAS BY ASSEMBLY SPEAKER

In a major relief to the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court yesterday upheld the state Assembly Speaker’s order disqualifying 18 AIADMK legislators last year that could pave the way for byelections in 20 constituencies, including two that fell vacant following the death of MLAs.

Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, the third judge named by the Supreme Court after a split verdict delivered by a two-judge bench earlier, upheld Speaker P. Dhanapal’s order, saying it was done under the provisions of the anti-defection law and vacated the stay on holding by-elections to these constituencies.

Before reading out the operative portions of the judgement, Justice Sathyanarayanan observed he was giving his verdict independently on the basis of the arguments presented before him and was not going by the judgement given by the then Chief Justice Indrani Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar.

Dismissing all the writ petitions filed by 18 disqualified MLAs, the judge, in his 475page judgement, said the high Constitutional office of the Speaker is always considered as the respectable position in tune with the said office and the Speaker is expected to be not only impartial but should be perceptible.

“In the impugned order, the first respondent/Speaker had dealt with the preliminary issues and the main issues and reached the conclusion on thorough consideration and appreciation of the materials placed before him,” he said.

“It is also a settled position of law that an order is not invalid merely because by a process of interference and if the decision of the first respondent/Speaker is a possible and plausible view, this court cannot substitute its own evaluation of the conclusion of law and facts, to arrive/ reach an altogether different conclusion,” the judgement said.

The judge said the court was not inclined to take cognizance of the subsequent events/developments as it was called upon to test the impugned order with the materials that were available before the first respondent.

“However, in the circumstances of the case, there shall be no order as to costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions for interim stay shall stand dismissed and the interim orders are vacated,” he said.

The disqualified legislators are with sidelined party leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran, now an independent legislator in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

Reacting to the judgement, Dhinakaran told reporters: “We will discuss with the 18 legislators and decide on the future course of action.” He said it was “an experience for us”.

“If the 18 disqualified legislators decide to go on appeal against the decision then we will go for an appeal,” Dhinakaran said.

‘Good judgement’

Chief Minister Edapadi Palaniswamy said it was a good judgement and the AIADMK was ready to face elections in these constituencies.

Stalin said the bypolls for the 20 assembly constituencies should be held immediately.

In the 235-member assembly, the AIADMK has 115 members followed by the DMK with 88, Congress eight, one of the IUML, one Independent, the Speaker and 20 vacant seats (18 disqualified and two dead). Besides, there is a nominated member.

Three legislators though belonging to three different parties won their seats under the AIADMK’s two leaves symbol. Of that, one legislator Karunas is openly supporting Dhinakaran.

Speaking to reporters after the Madras High Court verdict the advocate for 18 disqualified legislators N. Raja Senthoor Pandian said there are three options — appeal to the Supreme Court, face bypolls or prefer an appeal and face the bypolls.