NEW DELHI: In a major relief to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA R Sreenivasa Sethupathi, the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Madras High Court order restraining him from participating in the floor test in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
The HC had issued the order while hearing a petition filed by senior DMK leader K R Periakaruppan, who had lost to Sethupathi in the recently-concluded election by a margin of one vote.
“This is atrocious to say the least. The HC says the remedy is an election petition but still entertains the Article 226 petition,” a bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi observed after hearing Sethupathi’s plea. It is to be noted that Article 226 of the Constitution deals with power of HCs to issue certain writs.
During the hearing on Wednesday, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for the petitioner and argued that Periakaruppan’s writ petition was filed on Saturday and heard on Sunday by the high court.
SC questions HC on proceeding on writ petition
Senior advocate and former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Periakaruppan, submitted that the facts of the matter were such which required exercise of extraordinary jurisdiction, as one postal ballot was mistakenly delivered to another constituency.
Hearing these submissions, the apex court stayed the HC’s order and further proceedings after questioning the filing of writ petition instead of an election petition. It observed that the remedy was only an election petition in this matter.
Sethupathi on Tuesday moved the top court challenging the HC’s interim restraint on his voting rights in the political and legislative dispute concerning floor test proceedings in the state Assembly. The HC observed that allowing him a vote while the dispute remained pending could affect the stability of the government.
