In a democratic set-up, the will of the majority has to prevail, says Madras HC

Judge criticises expelled leader O. Panneerselvam for attempting to stall AIADMK general council meet

While clearing the decks for the AIADMK general council meeting just minutes before it began on Monday, the Madras High Court heavily criticised its leader O. Panneerselvam (since expelled) for attempting to prevent the will of the majority from being implemented.

Justice Krishnan Ramasamy dismissed applications filed by Mr. Panneerselvam and another general council member, P. Vairamuthu, to stall the meeting. He held that intra-party affairs such as the election of a leader and the amendment of bylaws are a "no go area" for courts because such matters are non-justiciable.

"In a democratic set up, the will of the majority has to prevail. The general rule is that during a difference among members, the majority decides an issue. If the majority exercises it's powers in internal administration, courts will not interfere into the wisdom of the majority. The matter at hand is an intra-party affair," he said.

The judge also observed that any dispute between individual members of the party and those responsible for its management must be decided by the machinery provided by its bylaws and not in a court of law. In the present case, the applicants had tried to use the court as a tool because they lacked support from party members.

"It is very unfortunate that a leader, in the capacity of Coordinator (Mr. Panneerselvam), has time and again rushed to this court seeking interference instead of participating in the general council and introducing his ideas and plans towards the welfare of the party so as to gain the confidence of the members," the judge observed.

He went on to state: "What the applicant could not achieve (on his own), he wants to achieve through the court of law and the court will certainly refrain from interfering with the private affairs of the party and not get dragged into it at the instance of just one or two members as against the interests of thousands of other members of the party."

Concurring with senior counsel Vijay Narayan, representing Edappadi K. Palaniswami (now the party’s interim general secretary), that the authority to amend the bylaws of the party ‘undoubtedly’ vests with the general council, the judge said the applicants had not made out any case for the court to stall the general council meeting.