Madras High Court upholds resignation of six AIADMK MLAs

The Madras High Court on Tuesday upheld the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker’s decision to accept the resignations of six AIADMK legislators who subsequently joined the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), but ruled that their resignations would not bring pending disqualification proceedings against four of them to an end.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan directed Speaker JCD Prabhakar to conclude the disqualification proceedings within two months, drawing a distinction between a legislator’s resignation and proceedings under the anti-defection provisions of the Constitution.

The court held that the resignations, tendered between May 26 and June 29, were genuine and voluntary. It rejected the contention that the Speaker should have conducted a more extensive inquiry before accepting them, observing that he was not required to undertake a “roving” or detailed investigation into the legislators’ motives.

The Speaker had told the court that each MLA submitted a handwritten resignation in person and was individually questioned to establish whether the decision was voluntary and free from coercion. The Bench accepted that the “limited inquiry” met the constitutional requirement. But the court said resignation and disqualification were distinct constitutional processes.

Pending disqualification proceedings could therefore continue even after the resignations had been accepted. Must Read | Why Vijay’s temple visit with Narendra Modi goes beyond routine protocol “The Speaker can still finally adjudicate and decide the disqualification proceedings, and such determination shall carry the consequences as described under Schedule X of the Constitution,” the Bench said.

It also held that the High Court could intervene under its writ jurisdiction if the Speaker failed to decide such proceedings within a reasonable period. The ruling came on petitions filed by AIADMK whip Agri S S Krishnamurthy and the Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi challenging the acceptance of the resignations of Esakki Subaya of Ambasamudram, S Jayakumar of Perundurai, Maragatham Kumaravel of Maduranthagam, P Sathyabama of Dharapuram, former Health Minister C Vijayabaskar of Viralimalai and former Transport Minister M R Vijayabhaskar of Karur.

The legislators had quit the AIADMK after the Assembly elections and joined Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s TVK. Maragatham Kumaravel and Sathyabama subsequently contested the October 6 by-elections from their former constituencies as TVK candidates and won. Disqualification proceedings remain pending against Jayakumar, Sathyabama, Maragatham Kumaravel and Esakki Subaya over allegations that they violated the AIADMK whip during a confidence motion moved by Vijay in May.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami initially sought action against 25 party MLAs but later condoned the conduct of 21.