Supreme Court allows E Palaniswami to continue as interim general secretary of AIADMK
On July 11, 2022 in the general council meeting, Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) was elected as interim General Secretary, and O Panneerselvam (OPS) along with some of his supporters were ousted from the party.
The Supreme Court today affirmed the order of the Madras High Court division bench which had allowed Edappadi Palaniswamy(EPS) to continue as the interim general secretary of AIADMK.
A division bench of Justices Dinesh Maheswari and Hrishikesh Roy had reserved judgment in the case on January 12.
Notably, the court has finalized its interim order whereby it had stayed the order of Madras High Court restraining All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general council from amending bye-laws pertaining to unitary leadership.
In its judgment, the court has further clarified that the court's observations are relating to the interim orders passed by the high court and that they shall have no bearing on the suit pending in the high court in relation to the disputes between OPS and EPS.
A division bench of Justice Doraiswamy and Justice Sundar Mohan of the Madras High Court which heard the matter well past midnight on June 22-23, 2022 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 of the high court 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.
A notification calling for conducting a General Council Meeting of the AIADMK Party on June 23, 2022 was issued on June 2. M Shanmugham, a member of the General Council of the AIADMK, opposed the conduct of the meeting on the ground that no agenda papers had been circulated.
"..... Division Bench has effectively granted an injunction against the exercise of rights by General Council members thereby interfering with the internal democratic process of a political party. The General Council being the Supreme body under the Rules and Regulations of the AIADMK party was prevented from taking decisions on internal party affairs", the SLP submitted.
It had been further alleged that the division bench never provided Thiru K Palaniswamy, Co-convenor of AIADMK and former CM of Tamil Nadu, an opportunity to file any pleadings or documents in support of his case.
The SLP added that the division bought not to have entertained the appeal solely on the ground of maintainability alone as the impugned order was merely a discretionary order of refusal of grant of ad-interim injunction and the same was not an appealable order or “judgment” under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent.