Chennai: The Madras high court declined to pass any interim order on a petition filed by working president of DMK and the leader of opposition MK Stalin challenging the decision of the Tamil Nadu State Assembly Speaker on the floor of the House on February 18 on the confidence motion moved by chief minister, Edappadi K. Palanisami.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G.Ramesh and Justice R.Mahadevan posted to February 27 further hearing of the case while suggesting to Stalin to produce video recordings, if any, to substantiate his claim.
When the petition came up for hearing, the bench while wondering what makes the DMK to move such a plea when the issue was only between the chief minister and the former chief minister O.Paneerselvam, asked senior counsel, R.Shanmughasundaram, appearing for the petitioner, as to in what way the petitioner was aggrieved by the issue.
Shanmughasundaram said, “The petitioner, who is also the leader of opposition, was stopped near the War Memorial and made to walk all the way to the secretariat. Also all the DMK members including the petitioner were illegally evicted from the House when they sought secret ballot on the confidence motion”.
Senior counsel N.L. Rajah, appearing for another petitioner, Advocates Forum for Social Justice, said the fact that all the MLAs, who were in Koovathur village, were escorted to the assembly in buses was a clear indication that they were under illegal detention. Moreover, there was an FIR pending against Edappadi K. Palanisami in connection with illegal detention of MLAs, he alleged.
When the bench sought to know whether the petitioners have any video recording to prove their allegations, Shanmughasundaram said only a particular private channel was allowed to record the assembly proceedings and requested the court to pass an order directing the Assembly secretary to produce the video recordings. However, the bench declined to pass any interim order and suggested that the petitioners collect and submit any such videos for its perusal.
In his petition, Stalin also sought a direction to the Assembly Speaker to conduct fresh floor test on the confidence motion moved by K.Palanisami by holding secret ballot for each of the MLAs of the respective legislature parties.
