The Supreme
Court on Thursday upheld a Madras High Court order allowing K.Palaniswami
to continue as interim general secretary of the AIADMK, establishing his
position as the single, supreme leader of the party.
A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheswari and Hrishikesh
Roy, which had reserved judgement on the matter on January 12, dismissed the
petitions filed by O Panneerselvam.
We have upheld the order of the Division Bench of the
High Court dated September 2, 2022 and made our earlier interim order
permanent.
"We have not dealt with the matter of resolutions
before the party that were being heard by the single judge. We leave it open
for the said resolutions to be dealt with in accordance in law, the bench said.
The judgement came on batch of pleas concerning
amendments made to party bylaws during the July 11, 2022 general council
meeting, which elected Palaniswami, or EPS as he is known, as its single leader
while expelling his rival Panneerselvam and some of his aides.
The division bench quashed the August 17 order of
Justice G Jayachandran, which ordered maintenance of status-quo ante as of June
23 -- when Panneerselvam was coordinator and Palaniswami joint coordinator.
In Chennai, celebrations broke out at the AIADMK headquarters
here after news of the Supreme Court ruling came in. Amid increased
police presence at MGR Maaligai, the headquarters of the AIADMK, EPS supporters
burst crackers and poured milk on a cutout of him.