Madras HC stays floor test in TN Assembly till September 20

Hearing a plea filed by DMK leader M K Stalin and MLA P Vetrivel, a loyalist of ousted AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, the Madras High Court on Thursday passed an order that no floor test would be conducted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly till September 20.

While passing the interim order, Justice M Duraiswami directed issuance of notice to the Speaker.

The petitioners stated that they apprehended that the Speaker might disqualify the legislators after 19 MLAs came out in support of Dhinkaran.  

This may go in favour of the chief minister in case of a floor test to prove his majority, they contended.

Stalin, in his petition, had sought a direction to the Governor to order a floor test for the Palaniswami government, claiming that it had lost is majority in view of the 19 MLAs expressing their lack of confidence in the chief minister.

Vetrivel, who filed an impleading petition, submitted he had apprehension that he might be disqualified by the Speaker during the proceedings initiated on a prayer by the government Chief Whip.

After the whip sought disqualification of the 19 MLAs under the anti-defection law, the Speaker had issued notices to them seeking their response, the time limit for which ended today.

Earlier, state Advocate General Vijay Narayan informed the judge that the constitutional process by the Speaker had started and the court could not pass orders based on apprehensions of the petitioners. (With PTI inputs)