Chennai: The Madras high court declined to stay the suspension of 80 DMK MLAs from the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for seven days.
However, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R.Mahadevan ordered notice to the TN Legislative Assembly Speaker, Secretary and state government on the petitions filed by DMK treasurer and the leader of the opposition M.K. Stalin and Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, challenging the en-masse suspension of DMK MLAs by the assembly secretary on August 17.
The bench posted further hearing to September 1 of the petitions seeking to declare the resolution passed by the TN Legislative Assembly suspending members of the DMK party and all proceedings and action taken pursuant thereto as illegal and unconstitutional.
The plea also sought the declaring as unconstitutional Rule 121 of the TN Legislative Assembly Rules, which provide for the grave punishment of suspension without any opportunity of hearing to the member in question.
Declining to grant interim stay, the bench said out of the suspension period of 7 days, 5 days were over. Senior counsels Mohan Parasaran and N.R. Elango for the petitioners stated that if interim prayer was not granted, a plea may be raised that the petitions have become infructuous.
“Since it is a matter of function of the House and the order has been passed by the Speaker, we are not inclined to pass interim orders. But, there will be no question of making the prayer infrunctuous as ultimately the validity of the resolution would have to be decided as it may have other ramifications,” the bench added.
