CHENNAI: A civil court in Chennai has dismissed an application filed by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami seeking to reject the plaint filed by S Suriyamoorthy of Dindigul challenging his election to the party’s general secretary post in a 2022 general council instead of being elected by the primary members of the party.
Fourth Assistant City Civil Court judge K Sivasakthivel passed orders on Thursday dismissing the application of EPS who sought the rejection of the plaint on the grounds of another suit being instituted on the same issue and that Suriyamoorthy lacked locus standi as he was no longer a member of the party as he was expelled.
The judge said in rejection of the plaint application whether there is a cause of action or not will be decided only on the basis of the plaint allegation.
“As per Rule 43 and 20 of the AIADMK bylaw, the general secretary should be elected by the primary members of the party. The applicant (EPS) has not stated that he was elected as per Rule 43 r/20 (2) of the bylaw. Hence, there is a triable issue in the suit,” he said in the order.
Taking into account the submission of Suriyamoothy that Palaniswami was not empowered to remove or add members to the party since he was not elected as per the bylaw, the judge noted whether he was a member of the party or not will be decided only after adducing evidence and documents.