The Madras High Court on Friday allowed AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami’s appeal, setting aside an order in favour of O Panneerselvam.
A division bench comprising Justices M Duraiswamy and Sundar Mohan set aside an order of a single judge, which nullified the July 11 General Council (GC) meeting of the AIADMK.
In that meeting held in July, leader of opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) was elected as the interim general secretary of the party, the top post. Panneerselvam (OPS) was ousted from the party.
Palaniswami’s position as the single, supreme leader of AIADMK is established with this fresh court order.
The division bench quashed the August 17 order of Justice G Jayachandran, which ordered maintenance of status-quo ante as of June 23. Previously, Panneerselvam was the Coordinator and Palaniswami, the Joint Coordinator and that directive was for maintenance of the then existing dual power structure.
In its 127-page order, the bench observed that the appellant EPS and respondent OPS can never function together and there was a deadlock in party matters.
The direction of the single judge to conduct the Executive or General Council meetings jointly would not be workable, as the two leaders have not been able to act together and there has been a deadlock.
The direction only furthered the “functional deadlock” that was already in existence in the party, the bench said. The General Council meeting held on 11 July 2022 was proper, the bench held. In the July meet, Palaniswami was elected as AIADMK’s interim general secretary with full powers to helm the party.
The requisition for the GC meet, to decide the issue of single leadership, was made by 2,190 members out of the 2,665 members of the council, the supreme decision-making body. This amounts to more than 80 per cent of the General Council members.