"Atrocious": Supreme Court Stays Order Restraining TVK MLA From Floor Test

The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Madras High Court and stayed its order restraining a TVK leader from participating in the floor test in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. 

The plea of TVK MLA R Seenivasa Sethupathi, assailing the high court order, was mentioned for urgent listing and hearing on Monday before a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant by senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi. The bench agreed to list the case for hearing on Wednesday.

"This is atrocious to say the least," a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi passed the interim order while hearing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Sethupathi challenging the Madras High Court's direction.

The bench also stayed the proceeding pending before the high court in the matter.

The top court questioned senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for DMK leader KR Periakaruppan, how a writ petition challenging an election result could be maintained before the Madras High Court. "The High Court says remedy is an election petition and still entertains the writ petition," the Supreme Court remarked.

After hearing the submissions on behalf of the parties, the top court ordered, "We have heard the senior counsels for the parties. Counsel for the respondent is granted two weeks to file a reply. In the meantime, the impugned order shall remain stayed. Further proceedings before the High Court also stayed."

Sethupathi had won the No. 185 Tiruppattur assembly constituency in Sivagangai district by a margin of a single vote against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former minister KR Periakaruppan.

Periakaruppan subsequently approached the Madras High Court alleging irregularities in the counting process, including the alleged rejection of a postal ballot that was mistakenly sent to another constituency.

In an interim order, the high court restrained Sethupathi from voting or otherwise participating in any floor test, confidence motion, no-confidence motion, trust vote or any proceeding where the numerical strength of the House is tested, pending further orders.

Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam government on Wednesday won the vote of confidence.