Massive relief for TN govt as HC upholds sacking of 18 rebel

In a huge relief to the AIADMK government, the Madras High Court Thursday upheld the June 14 order of the then Chief Justice Indira Banerjee disqualifying its 18 rebel MLAs loyal to sidelined leader TTV Dhinakaran.

An adverse judgement could have triggered a political realignment in Tamil Nadu and brought the ruling party perilously close to losing majority in the state assembly whose effective strength is 232. Two seats are vacant.

The 18 AIADMK MLAs were disqualified on September 18 last year under the anti-defection law after they met the governor and expressed loss of confidence in Chief Minister K Palaniswami.

A division bench of the court comprising Banerjee and Justice M Sundar had delivered a split verdict on June 14. Banerjee had upheld Speaker P Dhanapal's order disqualifying them, while Sundar had passed a dissenting judgement.

The Supreme Court had then appointed Justice M Sathyanarayanan to hear the matter.

Justice Sathyanarayanan Thursday said there was no infirmity in Dhanapal's order which was upheld by Banerjee.

"All the material that were availble at the time of passing of the order by the Speaker alone have been taken into consideration and this court cannot go into the subsequent events," the judge observed, upholding the disqualification.

The judge said he had delivered his "independent view" on the matter and not gone by those expressed by the two judges who heard it earlier.

In her 200-page June 14 order, Banerjee had upheld Dhanapal's decision, saying: "In my opinion, the view taken by the Speaker is a possible, if not plausible view, and I am unable to hold that the said decision is any way unreasonable, irrational or perverse."