Chennai: When Edappadi K Palaniswami was chosen interim general secretary and O Panneerselvam was ousted at the party's extraordinary general council meeting on July 11, 2022, the functional impasse within the AIADMK was finally resolved.
Multiple rounds of litigation revolved around questions like who was to convene the general council meeting, if the members had prior intimation and whether or not the 15-day advance notice mandatory.
The division bench of Justice Dinesh Maheswari and Justice Hrishikesh Roy interpreted nearly every point in favour of the Palaniswami faction, stating that the meeting on June 23 had been "duly convened" and that "even if the slated business was not transacted, all that had happened in that meeting could not have been ignored."
Noting that Panneerselvam and those backing him were present at the meeting, the bench said, “The general council consists of 2,665 members. If 2,190 out of these 2,665 consented to the general council meeting and the presidium chairman announced the date, in the given set of facts and circumstances, such an announcement, at least at the present stage, cannot be dubbed wholly redundant”.
The bench rejected the Panneerselvam faction's argument that no notice was issued to the general council members 15 days prior to the meeting, saying this clause was mandatory only for the annual general council.
It also alluded to a previous occasion in which V K Sasikala, an interim general secretary, was unable to carry out her duties in that capacity because she was imprisoned in connection with a criminal matter. On September 12, 2017, the members requested a meeting, and the then office holders called it.