AIADMK leadership issue: HC to hear EPS plea against single Judge order

New Delhi, Aug 23: The Madras High Court on Tuesday will hear AIADMK leader K Palaniswami's plea against a single judge order that had ruled as invalid the party's July 11 General council meet that picked him as the interim chief and expelled his rival O Panneerselvam. Justice G Jayachandran last week had ordered maintenance of status-quo ante as of June 23 this year.

This order had stripped EPS, as Palaniswami is known, from the post of interim general secretary of the party and came in handy to OPS, who got his earlier posts of Treasurer and Co-ordinator of the party restored.

When the matter came up before the bench of Justices M Duraiswamy and Sundar Mohan on Monday, Vijay Narayan, the senior counsel appearing for EPS, told the judges that the order of the single judge had created a deadlock in the AIADMK. He urged the judges to hear the case urgently. He also requested the judges to dispense with the requirement of the original order copy of Justice Jayachandran and accept the online copy.

The bench acceded to the request and directed the Registry to post it today.