CHENNAI: The appeals filed by deposed AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam and his supporters challenging the single judge’s order refusing to stay the general secretary polls of the party will be heard by a division of Madras High Court on Thursday.
When the appeals filed by OPS came up for hearing before the bench of Justices R Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq on Wednesday, the counsels representing OPS supporters R Vaithilingam, PH Manoj Pandian and JCD Prabhakar said the petitions filed by their clients were not listed, and so, the ones filed by OPS be taken up along with them. They also requested the court to dispense with the production of the single judge’s order duly signed by him.
Accepting it, the bench posted the matter to Thursday and directed the registry to list them accordingly.
Embattled OPS and his supporters moved the division bench with the appeals soon after Justice K Kumaresh Babu rejected the interim applications filed by OPS and his supporters seeking a stay on the general secretary elections. The judge said they have no prima facie case and balance of convenience in favour of them in granting the stay on the general secretary elections.
The judge also held the resolutions of the July 11, 2022, general council meeting to the effect of abolishing the posts of coordinator, and joint coordinator, electing EPS as interim general secretary and reviving the post of general secretary as valid and observed if a stay was granted, it would affect the party’s functioning, which has about 1.55 crore primary members, and leave it without a leader.
However, he said the validity of the particular resolution which enabled the expulsion of OPS and his supporters from the party will be decided along with the civil suits challenging the amendments and resolutions of the July 11 meeting.
What happened in court
The counsels representing Panneerselvam’s supporters R Vaithilingam, PH Manoj Pandian and JCD Prabhakar said the petitions filed by their clients were not listed, and so, the ones filed by OPS be taken up along with them. They also requested the court to dispense with the production of the single judge’s order duly signed by him