Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has urged the Madras High Court to reject a civil suit preferred jointly by V.K. Sasikala and her nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran to declare that Mr. Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, Forest Minister Dindigul K. Sreenivasan and former Ministers S. Semmalai and E. Madhusudanan were not members of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
Taking out a separate application in the civil suit pending before Justice C.V. Karthikeyan, Mr. Palaniswami urged the court to reject the plaint in its entirety since, according to him, the plaintiffs had no authority to file the case.
He claimed that the first plaintiff in the suit had been shown to be “AIADMK, presently known as AIADMK (Amma)” though no registered entity such as AIADMK (Amma) existed as on date.
When the matter came up for hearing on Thursday, the judge adjourned the hearing to February 22 and extended till then an interim order passed by him on November 29. On that day, the court had permitted the plaintiffs to peruse statement of accounts produced by the banks in which AIADMK held current accounts. It, however, said the details filed by P. Mahalingam, manager of the party headquarters, shall be kept in a sealed cover until further orders.
The manager had submitted the details in compliance of another interim order passed by the court on November 2 when he was directed to “file an affidavit giving a list of all the records and registers available in the party office along with an undertaking that he shall not tamper or destroy or alter any of the records.”
The order was passed after the plaintiffs questioned the authority of the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and others to handle party affairs and its finances.
In their suit, Ms. Sasikala and Mr. Dhinakaran wanted the court to declare as illegal all actions taken by the team led by the Chief Minister and his team by claiming to be the office-bearers of the party.
They also sought to declare as invalid a notification issued by E. Madhusudhanan, in his reported capacity as presidium chairman, on March 12 appointing Mr. Panneerselvam as treasurer and Mr. Semmalai as organising secretary of the party.
The plaintiffs had also sought for a series of other relief which included a declaration that a joint meeting conducted by the factions led by Mr. Palaniswami and Mr. Panneerselvam on September 12 was illegal and all consequential actions taken by them and their supporters were null and void. They wanted the court to restrain the defendants from operating any of the bank accounts of the party except through the treasurers appointed by Ms. Sasikala in her capacity as general secretary of the party.
