Bench reserves verdict on appeals challenging single judge order against AIADMK's Jul 11 GC meet

A division bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday reserved its judgment on the appeals from AIADMK leader Edappady K Palaniswami (EPS) challenging the orders of a single judge, which among other things nullified the July 11 general council meeting(GC) of the party and directed both the sides to maintain status-quo as of June 23, 2022, the other side being the one led by O Panneerselvam. The bench of Justices M Duraiswamy and Sundar Mohan reserved the orders after listening to the extensive arguments advanced by a battery of senior counsel for both the parties.

At the outset, the bench told the senior counsel for both the parties to complete their arguments in an hour, each.

Senior advocates Vijay Narayan, Ariyama Sundaram and C S Vaidyanathan appeared for EPS' side and found loopholes in the orders of the single judge. Guru Krishnakumar and P H Arvind Pandian, representing Panneerselvam and advocate Sriram for GC member P Vairamuthu, argued in support of the orders of Justice G Jayachandran.


After directing the respective parties to file their written arguments, the judges reserved their orders at the end of the afternoon session.

EPS had preferred the appeal against Justice Jayachandran's order declaring as invalid the July 11 GC meet and the decisions therein, besides directing status quo as on June 23.

The July 11 meeting of the AIADMK had expelled Panneerselvam and some of his supporters and picked EPS as the interim general secretary, amid a leadership row and calls for a single leadership in a favour of Palaniswami.