Tamil Nadu assembly Speaker P Dhanapal (left) with TTV Dinakaran. Express archive photo.The Supreme Court Monday stayed disqualification proceedings against two AIADMK MLAs who were served notice by Tamil Nadu assembly speaker P Dhanapal under the anti-defection law.
On April 30, three AIADMK MLAs, A Prabhu, Kalaiselvan and E Rathinasabapathy, were served the notices by the assembly Speaker, seeking an explanation for allegedly siding with Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader TTV Dhinakaran, who was expelled from the AIADMK in August 2017. The notice was served on the basis of a complaint by AIADMK leader S Rajendran who had claimed that the three MLAs had extended support to Dhinakaran, an MLA from RK Nagar. Read in Tamil
Out of the three MLAs, two lawmakers had approached the apex court on Friday challenging the show-cause notice served to them for allegedly indulging in “anti-party” activities.
Kalaiselvan, in his petition, told the apex court that direction needs to be passed prohibiting the Speaker from acting without jurisdiction and to adjudicate the disqualification petition during the pendency of no-confidence motion against him.
“It is submitted that the actions of the Respondent number-1 (speaker) in the last two years speaks volumes of his partisan and biased conduct and has reasonable apprehension that the respondent number-1 would not be following the dictum of law laid down and would act without jurisdiction to adjudicate and decide the disqualification petition”, the petition said.
In 2017, the Tamil Nadu assembly Speaker had disqualified 18 AIADMK MLAs for ‘defection.’ The Madras High Court had then upheld the Tamil Nadu Speaker’s decision to disqualify the 18 rebel AIADMK MLAs. The rebels, supporting the Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction, were disqualified under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution (known as the anti-defection law) after the former expressed lack of confidence in Chief Minister E Palaniswami.
The rebels later moved a petition in the HC challenging the Speaker’s decision following which the court restrained the Election Commission from declaring their seats vacant.
