AIADMK leadership case | Madras High Court agrees to hear appeal by O. Panneerselvam on November 10

Madras HC to hear appeal by O. Panneerselvam against injunction restraining him from claiming to be AIADMK coordinator. Judge N. Sathish Kumar granted interim injunction till Nov 30 as Panneerselvam failed to file counter affidavit. Third Division Bench to hear appeal on Friday if numbered.

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday, November 8, 2023 agreed to hear on Friday an original side appeal to be filed by AIADMK expelled leader O. Panneerselvam against an interim injunction granted by a single judge on Tuesday restraining him from claiming to be the coordinator or even a primary member of the party besides imposing curbs on use of the party’s official letter head, two leaves symbol and flag.

The Third Division Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq accepted a request made by advocate P. Rajalakshmi for an urgent hearing of the appeal and said they would hear it on Friday if it got numbered by then.

Justice N. Sathish Kumar had granted the interim injunction till November 30 since Mr. Panneerselvam had failed to file a counter affidavit despite granting multiple adjournments.

The judge pointed out that the party’s general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami had filed a civil suit, along with interim injunction applications, in September this year. Though the plaintiff had made out a prima facie case for grant of injunction, the court did not grant it immediately in order to give an opportunity to the defendant to file his counter affidavit before passing any orders on the plea for interim relief.

Since the counter affidavit was not filed even on Tuesday, the judge proceeded to grant interim relief till November 30 and asked the defendant to file the counter by then.