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A Division Bench of Madras High Court consisting of Justice Doraiswamy and Justice Sundar Mohan which heard the matter well past midnight on June 22-23 had reversed an order of the single judge bench refusing to prevent the party from making any amendments to its bye laws.
A Supreme Court bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Krishna Murari today stayed the order of Madras High Court restraining All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general council from amending bye-laws pertaining to unitary leadership.
A Division Bench of Justice Doraiswamy and Justice Sundar Mohan which heard the matter well past midnight on June 22-23 had reversed an order of the single judge bench refusing to prevent the party from making any amendments to its bye-laws.
The Single judge bench of Justice Krishnan Ramasamy had refused to restrain the party from amending its bye-laws observing that it was a settled principle that courts could not interfere in the internal affairs of a party/association, which had complete autonomy to pass resolutions and amend its bye-laws.
In the SLP filed before the Top Court, it was alleged that the division bench had erroneously interfered with the internal working mechanism of AIADMK.
When the matter came up for hearing, CS Vaidyanathan, Sr. Adv, argued that even though the order of the Division Bench was restricted to the General Council meeting that happened on June 23, 200, a contempt was filed in the matter. He further remarked that former CM K. Palanisamy has the support of 98% of the party, while the party opposing the unitary leadership has the support of only two percent of the party.
Objecting to this, Maninder Singh, Sr. Adv, argued that a decision was taken in September 2017 that two convenors will run the party for five years and the same cannot be changed prior to that. He argued that the Single judge has not recorded any reasons for not granting interim relief to either of the parties, thus the Division Bench passed the impugned order.
Court, on hearing the parties, opined that the issue pertained to internal party affairs and the issues pertaining to the party, must be sorted out by the general council.
The bench, thus, passed an order staying the order of Madras High Court restraining All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general council from amending bye-laws pertaining to unitary leadership. The bench also permitted the subsequent General Council meeting, which is slated to be held on July 11, 2022 to go on without being influenced by the interim order.
Case title: K. Palanisamy Vs Shanmugam & Ors
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