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HomeIndiaGovernanceSC appoints adjudicator for Tamil Nadu MLA disqualification case

SC appoints adjudicator for Tamil Nadu MLA disqualification case

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The order came after 17 of 18 MLAs disqualified by the assembly speaker moved the Supreme Court against the adjudicator appointed by the Madras High Court. 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has appointed Justice M. Sathyanarayanan to adjudicate on the Madras High Court’s split decision on the disqualification of 18 AIADMK MLAs in Tamil Nadu.

The 18 dissidents had been disqualified as legislators by the Speaker for siding with TTV Dhinakaran, the nephew of former chief minister Jayalalithaa’s close aide Sasikala, and trying to pull down the E. Palaniswami-led AIADMK government.

In light of Wednesday’s ruling, the 17 MLAs who moved the Supreme Court withdrew the allegations they had leveled against Justice S. Vimala, the adjudicator appointed by the Madras High Court.

Earlier this week, senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the MLAs, had mentioned the matter before a vacation bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjay Kisan Kaul, seeking the setting aside of Justice Vimala’s appointment over an apprehension of bias.

However, appointing an adjudicator, the Supreme Court said the petition was “irresponsibly drafted”, adding that it was “unwise to cast aspersions” on the judge.

Split judgment

On 14 June, a division bench comprising Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar took up the case but delivered a split verdict.

In their order, they said it would be inappropriate if either judge selected an adjudicator to break the tie, which is why the duty was handed to the court’s secondmost senior judge, Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh.

Chief Justice Banerjee’s decision to hand over the selection to another judge is unique in light of the assertion made by a CJI-led bench that, as the master of roster, the Chief Justice alone had the authority to allocate cases and constitute benches. The order, a reiteration of the November 2017 judgment passed by a five-judge bench, had invited much criticism from legal luminaries.

On 12 January, four senior Supreme Court judges, in a letter to CJI Dipak Misra, wrote, “There have been instances where case having far-reaching consequences for the nation and the institution had been assigned by the Chief Justices of this court selectively to the benches of their preference without any rational basis for such assignment. This must be guarded against at all costs.”

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