TN MLA Disqualification Case: SC appoints Justice M Sathyanarayanan as third judge

The Supreme Court today refused to transfer the case relating to the 18 disqualified MLAs of the TTV Dhinakaran faction of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), and appointed Justice M Sathyanarayanan as the third judge to hear the case..The Madras High Court Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar had delivered a split verdict on the issue in June this year..Chief Justice Banerjee had then asked the second senior most judge of the Madras High court to nominate a third judge to hear the case and break the deadlock. To this end, Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh had nominated Justice S Vimala. .Aggrieved by this nomination, the petitioners approached the Supreme Court stating their “apprehension of the likelihood of bias”..Senior Counsel Vikas Singh appeared for the petitioners before the vacation bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjay Kishan Kaul. Singh began his submissions by stating that the Madras High Court had delivered its verdict six months after reserving it in January this year..Visibly upset over this submission, Justice Kaul told the senior counsel that it was an irresponsible statement to make..“Lawyers filed a petition and argued the case for four months and then you think Judges are like computers, you press one button and order will come. Orders and judgments take deliberations and can’t be passed in days. I calculated the time and it is not six months but 4 months and 3 weeks. This is a very irresponsibly drafted SLP”, Justice Kaul said..The Court then asked the petitioners to withdraw the allegations made by them against the judges of the Madras High Court..“You withdraw all allegations against judges. No aspersions on any judge should be cast”, Justice Arun Mishra told Singh..Senior Counsel Aryama Sundaram, appearing for the respondents, highlighted before the Court that Chief Justice Indira Banerjee did not even participate in the process of nomination of the third judge..Singh assured the Court that he will file an affidavit and withdraw the problematic statements and allegations against judges..The Court, while disposing of the petition, ordered for the appointment of Justice M Sathyanarayanan to decide on the difference of opinion between the two judges in the case. It was also reiterated that all allegations against judges shall be withdrawn and adverse comments expunged from records. The Order also states,.“We make it clear that this casts no aspersion on the judge who had been appointed to hear the matter merely because we have appointed anotherjudge of the High Court of Madras.”.The case can be traced to August 2017, when 19 MLAs of the ruling AIADMK faction informed the Governor that they had no confidence in Chief Minister E Palaniswamy-lead AIADMK government..Eventually, 18 of the 19 MLAs were disqualified by the Speaker on grounds of defection. One MLA was spared after he tendered an apology and withdrew his earlier representation.The 18 MLAs however challenged their disqualification in the Madras High Court..It can be noted that the petitions heard together by the Madras High Court were filed around three major events. Firstly, a privilege committee notice issued in July 2017 to MK Stalin, Leader of the Opposition party, DMK and 20 other DMK MLAs, for having brought Gutka (chewing tobacco) to the Assembly floor..Secondly, a trust vote held in February 2017, in which incumbent Deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvam (OPS) and 10 other AIADMK MLAs voted against Chief Minister EPS, contrary to the AIADMK Whip’s directions. And thirdly, the case against the disqualification of the 18 AIADMK MLAs for withdrawing support for the EPS-lead Government..Chief Justice Banerjee held that there is no scope for judicial interference in the decision of the Speaker P Dhanpal to disqualify the 18 MLAs, and hence dismissed all the petitions..Justice Sundar, however, found that the Speaker’s decision was liable to be set aside. He was of the view that all petitions preferred by the 18 MLAs should be allowed..Read Order: