A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday set aside the single Bench order that had quashed the July 11 election of Edappadi Palaniswamy as the interim General Secretary of the AIADMK.
Justices M Duraiswamy and Sundar Mohan set aside the single Bench verdict that had quashed the decisions of the General Council Meeting of the party held on July 11 while disposing of a petition filed by Palaniswamy who had challenged the earlier verdict. The justices said that there was ‘no possibility for the petitioner Palaniswamy and the respondent O Panneerselvam to act jointly’.
The justices pointed out that with the direction by the single Bench judge that there should be no Executive Council Meeting or General Council Meeting without the consent of the Co-Ordinator and the Joint-Coordinator, a situation has arisen where the party as a whole will undergo irreparable hardship, since there was no possibility of the appellant and the first respondent (Panneerselvam) acting jointly to convene a meeting , much less a General Council Meeting to discuss single leadership. The single Bench's direction only furthers the functional deadlock that was already in existence in the party, said the judges.
The court also held that when majority of the General Council members, who were elected by the primary members, were in favour of convening a general council meeting on July 11 and had also supported the resolution for single leadership made on June 23, the balance of convenience was in favour of the appellant (Palaniswamy).
The justices in their verdict running into 127 pages quoted precedents of similar cases in the past, rulings by the Supreme Court and said that the July 11 general council meeting was in order and was held legally. They also pointed out that the Supreme Court did not accept the demand by Panneerselvam to declare the July 11 General Council meeting as null and void.