The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed a plea demanding disqualification of Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and his team of 10 MLAs for having voted against the government led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy during a motion of confidence moved by the latter on February 18, 2017.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice Indhra Banerjee and Abdul Quddhose had dismissed the petition.
It was in September 2017, after Speaker P. Dhanapal disqualified the 18 MLAs who moved to the T.T.V. Dhinakaran faction, that DMK whip R. Chakrapani approached the Madras High Court, seeking direction to the speaker to disqualify O. Paneerselvam and the 10 MLAs. They had voted against the EPS government during the ‘vote of confidence’ motion in the assembly. Chakrapani, in his petition filed in the court, said the 11 MLAs will have to be disqualified under the anti-defection law.
According to the Anti Defection Law Amendment 52, 1985 a legislative member would incur a disqualification when he or she votes, or abstains from voting, contrary to the directive issued by the party. In this case, Chakrapani’s prayer was that the 11 MLAs be disqualified as they voted against the whip’s order.
Chakrapani, in his petition, said that the inaction of the speaker was mala fide and he had not even issued notice to them. “The inaction of the speaker against the 11 MLAs is deliberate. The speaker has not even issued notice to them in accordance with provisions of 10th Schedule of the Constitution and Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules 1986 for defying the party-line whip issued by the Chief Government whip S. Rajendran,” he said.
The 11 MLAs include O. Panneerselvam, Aarukutty, Shanmuganathan, Manickam, Manoharan, Tamil Development Minister Mafoi K. Pandiarajan, Manoranjitham, Saravanan, Semmalai, Chinnaraj and R. Natraj. Arunkumar, the MLA from Pollachi constituency, abstained from voting without the permission of the party, he added. The petition said that the speaker failed to condone the 11 MLAs within 15 days of voting, as per the law.
“Despite lapse of more than six months, notices had not been issued to them, which shows that the speaker acting in a partisan manner. As per Para 2 (1) (b) of the 10th Schedule, if a member of the House votes against the whip and such conduct in not condoned within 15 days, then such member is disqualified for being member of the House on the ground of defection,” he noted in the petition.
Stating that this as a clear act of corruption and quid pro quo for supporting a minority government, Chakrapani said, the speaker's inappropriate action prompted Edappadi Palanisamy to select O. Panneerselvam as his deputy and also induct Pandiarajan in his Cabinet.
Even before the court could commence pronouncing its judgment in the petition filed by Chakrapani, a law clerk G. Devarajan created ruckus inside the court hall demanding delivery of judgment in the case. He was removed from the court on the orders of Chief Justice Indhra Banerjee by CISF personnel.