New Delhi, June 27: The Supreme Court on Wednesday replaced the third judge appointed by the Madras High Court to hear the plea by 17 unseated AIADMK MLAs belonging to the T.T.V. Dinakaran faction and instead named Justice M. Sathyanarayanan in her place.

A vacation bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul of the apex court appointed Justice Sathyanarayanan as the third judge to hear the case following a split verdict by a two-judge bench of the Madras High Court challenging their disqualification from the membership of the Tamil Nadu Assembly. 

Following the split verdict, Justice Vimala was originally appointed by the High Court as the third judge. While Chief Justice Indira Banerjee upheld the Speaker's order disqualifying the 18 MLAs, Justice M. Sundar set aside the order. 

The apex court also declined a plea by the disqualified lawmakers seeking a transfer of their plea from the Madras High Court to the Supreme Court.

The court appointed Justice Sathyanarayanan after the unseated MLAs withdrew their aspersions against the third judge, who was appointed earlier to hear the matter.

Noting that all the aspersions against the third judge stand expunged, the court said: "We consider it appropriate to assign the matter to Justice Satyanarayana. He will hear the matter and decide."

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Beijing (PTI): China was on Thursday miffed over Indian mountaineers naming a previously unnamed peak in Arunachal Pradesh after the 6th Dalai Lama, reiterating its territorial claims over the area.

A team from the National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports (NIMAS) scaled an unnamed and unclimbed 20,942 ft high peak in Arunachal Pradesh and decided to name the summit after the 6th Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso, who was born in 1682 in the region of Mon Tawang.

NIMAS, located at Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh, functions under the Ministry of Defence.

Naming the peak after the 6th Dalai Lama is a tribute to his timeless wisdom and his profound contributions to the Monpa community and beyond, said a Defence Ministry press release.

When asked for his reaction, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing here, "I’m not aware of what you mentioned."

"Let me say more broadly that the area of Zangnan is Chinese territory, and it’s illegal, and null and void for India to set up the so-called "Arunachal Pradesh" in Chinese territory. This has been China's consistent position," he said.

China calls Arunachal Pradesh Zangnan.

Also, China has been renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh since 2017 to assert its claims.

India emphatically rejected China's claims over Arunachal Pradesh, saying it is an integral part of India and assigning "invented" names does not alter this reality.