Coordinator & Joint Coordinator should call for GC meet: HC

CHENNAI: In a relief to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, Justice G Jayachandran of Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered status quo as on June 23 on a suit filed by OPS challenging the order of a single judge allowing the General Council meeting of AIADMK called by EPS section on July 11.

After a marathon hearing, the judge held that as per the bye-laws of AIADMK, the coordinator and joint coordinator should jointly call for the GC meeting.

With the order of the HC, the July 11 GC meeting and election of Edappadi K Palaniswami as the interim general secretary post has turned invalid.

Justice Jayachandran further held that 15 day prior notice should be given for conducting the GC and it should be conducted within 30 days when requisition comes from one-fifth of the GC members.

The judge passed the orders after hearing senior counsels S Vijay Narayan, SR Rajagopal, and Narmatha Sampath for Edappadi K Palaniswami and his supporters. OPS was represented by senior advocates Guru Krishnakumar and Arvind Pandian. Another appellant named Amman Vairamuthu was represented by Senior counsel Sri Ram.

When the matter was taken for hearing, the judge wanted to know whether the July 11 meeting was held in accordance with the bye-laws of AIADMK. He also wanted the counsels to answer whether or not the announcement of the presidium chairman of AIADMK to call for the meeting is valid.

Guru Krishnakumar argued that the very election of the presidium chairman is invalid as the coordinator did not give any consent for the appointment. Arvind Pandian submitted that the 15-day prior notice for conducting the GC meeting was not obeyed by the EPS faction.

However, senior advocate Vijay Narayan submitted that the GC meeting was held as per the requisition of the 2190 GC members out of 2665. He held that when one-fifth of GC members made a request to conduct the GC meeting, the headquarters office bearers shall conduct the meeting within 30 days.

Vijay Narayan further submitted the Executive Committee’s decision of conducting an election for the coordinator and joint coordinator on a single vote that was not ratified by the GC members at a GC meeting conducted on June 23. Therefore, the GC members made a request to conduct another GC meeting and with the requisition, the presidium chairman announced that another GC meeting will be conducted on July 11.