EPS vs OPS : Supreme Court To Hear On July 6 Plea On AIADMK Leadership Row

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to list on July 6(subject to the CJI's approval) the plea moved by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami(EPS) challenging the Madras High Court division bench's order staying the passing of resolutions in AIADMK General Council Meeting.

Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan mentioned the plea before a vacation bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari seeking urgent listing. The senior counsel submitted that the division bench held an extraordinary sitting at midnight at the residence of one of the judges and passed an order at 4 AM to restrain the General Council from passing any resolutions. This amounted to judicial interference with the internal functioning of a political party, he submitted.

The senior counsel added that contempt petitions have been filed alleging violation of the interim order and that they are coming up for hearing before the division bench today.

The counsel representing M Shanmugham of O Paneerselvam group, appearing on caveat before the Supreme Court, opposed the request for urgent listing and submitted that there was no urgency requiring the matter to be listed during the vacations. He submitted that the interim order was passed in an original suit, which is still pending, and the contempt petitions were filed for breach of the directions.

The bench however agreed to list the matter day after tomorrow, subject to the approval of the Chief Justice of India.

The special leave petition has been filed against the order passed by a division bench comprising Justice Sunder Mohan and Justice Duraiswamy on June 23 restraining the AIADMK General Council from passing any resolutions. The division bench passed an order in an intra-court appeal filed by M Shanmugham, AIADMK's general council member against the single judge order passed earlier in the day where the single judge refused to restrain the party from making any amendments to its bye-laws.

The dispute relates to the changing of the dual-leadership structure of AIADMK. After the passing away of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha, AIADMK had been following a dual-leadership model with O Paneerselvam(OPS) and EPS leading it as coordinator and joint coordinator respectively.

However, recently, disputes arose between both the leaders, with EPS group pressing for unitary leadership.

EPS says in his SLP that in the General Council meeting held on June 23, majority of members sought for abolition of the dual leadership model and for adopting a unitary leadership structure.

It is said that the order passed by the division during the wee hours of June 23 was uploaded only at 3 PM on that day, after the meeting was over. The petitioner argues that the division bench erroneously interfered with the inner workings of a political party and effectively re-wrote the bye-laws, ignoring the fact that the general council is the supreme decision making authority for a party.