High Court upholds order disqualifying 18 rebel AIADMK MLAs
Chennai, Oct 25 : The Madras High Court today upheld the June 14 order of the then Chief Justice disqualifying 18 rebel AIADMK MLAs, in a huge relief to the K Palaniswami government.
Justice M Sathyanarayanan heard the pleas of the rival parties after a bench of then Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar gave a split verdict on June 14.
The 18 disqualified MLAs are loyal to the sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, who has now formed his own party --the AMMK.
Justice Sathyanarayanan said there was no infirmity in the order of the Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal, which was upheld by Banerjee.
"All the material that were available at the time of passing of the order by the Speaker alone have been taken into consideration and this court cannot go into the subsequent events," he observed while upholding their disqualification.
The 18 AIADMK MLAs were disqualified on September 18 last year under the anti-defection law after they met the governor and expressed loss of confidence in Chief Minister Palaniswami.
Following the split verdict, with Banerjee upholding the disqualification and Sundar setting it aside, Justice S Vimala was appointed to hear the petitions afresh.
However, the Supreme Court named Justice Sathyanarayanan to hear the matter, while declining to accept a prayer of the disqualified MLAs who raised apprehension of "bias". They had sought the matter to be transferred to the apex court.
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“Mistake owing to communication gap,” MLA Yatnal clarifies over alleged derogatory speech on Prophet
Vijayapura: Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal has denied making any derogatory statement about Prophet Muhammad, clarifying that there was a misstatement during his speech at a Ram Navami event in Hubballi. "I did not speak about Prophet Muhammad. I meant to refer to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, but there was a mistake in the speed of speech," he said addressing reporters on Monday.
He alleged that members of the Congress, frustrated by their hooliganism and failure to collect their hafta (extortion) in Vijayapura are using the Prophet as an excuse to speak against me. “There is no culture of denigrating another religion in Hinduism. Our gurus and elders have not taught us that,” he said.
Responding to another controversy involving an audio clip in which he was allegedly threatened, Yatnal said the police are investigating the matter and that those behind it will soon be exposed. “No one can finish me. The Hindus of Karnataka are with me. If someone tries to finish me, the whole state will rise in protest,” he warned.
