CHENNAI: A division bench of Madras High Court on Monday refused to provide interim relief to former chief minister O Panneerselvam from the injunction imposed by a single judge barring him from using AIADMK’s ‘Two leaves’ symbol.
Stating that they did not want to provide “oxygen” to the expelled leader, a division bench of Justices R Subramanian and R Sakthivel, said, “Now, that the elections have been announced, we will not pass any interim orders which would precipitate things.”
The bench also said Panneerselvam could approach the Supreme Court on the issue. The former coordinator of AIADMK, whose faction is now part of the BJP-led alliance, filed the appeal petition, challenging the single judge’s order barring him from using the AIADMK flag, symbol, and letterhead, besides disallowing him from claiming to be the party coordinator.
The order was passed on a petition filed by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami. The judge had said the court was satisfied that the ‘prima facie case’ and the ‘balance of convenience’ were in favour of Palaniswami, and if Panneerselvam was not restrained, it would confuse the cadre and lead to serious consequences.
The division bench, said, “We will hear the petition after the elections.” The bench noted that Panneerselvam had earlier challenged his expulsion and sought an injunction against it, but the court refused to grant the relief. “Now, how can we pass an interim order?”
It posted the appeal for a final hearing after the polls on June 10. Senior counsel PH Aravindh Pandian, appearing for Panneerselvam, submitted that the single judge had passed the injunction order even when the original suit challenging the conduct of the general council meeting of the AIADMK, where a resolution to expel the leader and his supporters was passed, is pending.
He argued that the ‘Two leaves’ symbol was given to Panneerselvam by the Election Commission of India when his supporter E Madhusudanan was the presidium chairperson of the party, but now Palaniswami and his supporters were trying to “hold it and make it wither.”