In a significant legal development for Tamil Nadu politics, the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed a Madras High Court order that had prevented R Sreenivasa Sethupathi, an MLA from the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), from participating in crucial floor tests within the state Legislative Assembly.
The ruling comes as a major relief for the legislator, whose narrow victory in the No.185 Tiruppattur assembly constituency has been at the center of a heated legal dispute.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and Vijay Bishnoi expressed strong disapproval of the High Court’s decision to intervene in the matter through a writ petition.
“This is atrocious to say the least,” the bench observed during the hearing. The Justices pointed out a procedural inconsistency, noting that while the High Court acknowledged that an election petition is the proper legal remedy for such disputes, it nonetheless entertained a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. Article 226 grants High Courts the power to issue certain writs, but the apex court suggested its application in this context was misplaced.
In addition to staying the restraint on the MLA, the Supreme Court has also halted all pending proceedings in the Madras High Court related to this specific matter.
The legal battle stems from the closely contested election in the Sivagangai district, where Sethupathi secured his seat by a margin of just one vote. His opponent, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former minister K R Periakaruppan, challenged the result, leading to the High Court’s interim order.
That now-stayed order had effectively neutralized Sethupathi’s legislative power, restraining him from:
- Voting or participating in floor tests.
- Engaging in confidence or no-confidence motions.
- Participating in trust votes or any proceedings where the House’s numerical strength is tested.
The Supreme Court’s intervention coincided with a pivotal moment for the state government. On Wednesday, the TVK government, led by C Joseph Vijay, successfully won a vote of confidence in the Assembly.
Moving forward, the apex court has granted K R Periakaruppan and other respondents a period of two weeks to file their counter-affidavits in response to Sethupathi’s plea. For now, the stay ensures that the Tiruppattur representative maintains his full participation rights as an elected member of the House.
