The Madras High Court has upheld the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker Prabhakar’s decision to accept the resignation letters of six AIADMK MLAs, ruling that the action was constitutionally valid.
The resignations were submitted while disqualification proceedings were pending over allegations linked to voting in support of the TVK government. The Speaker had accepted the resignations of Maragatham Kumara Vel (Madurantakam), Jayakumar (Perundurai), Sathyabama (Dharapuram), Isakki Subbiah (Ambasamudram), M.R. Vijayabaskar (Karur) and C. Vijayabaskar (Viralimalai), and declared the seats vacant.
Petitions seeking to quash the Speaker’s order were filed by AIADMK whip Agri Krishnamoorthy and by National Makkal Sakthi Party leader M.L. Ravi. A bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan heard the matter and later delivered a detailed order.
The court held that an MLA has a personal right to resign for any reason, and that the Speaker is not required to conduct an in-depth inquiry into alleged motives behind a resignation. It said the Speaker’s scrutiny is limited to verifying whether the resignation was submitted in person and was voluntary.
On the disqualification cases, the court noted that the AIADMK had withdrawn complaints against M.R. Vijayabaskar and C. Vijayabaskar, leaving no pending disqualification proceedings against them. However, it directed that the disqualification proceedings against Maragatham Kumara Vel, Sathyabama, Jayakumar and Isakki Subbiah be taken up and concluded within two months, and that no MLA should be allowed to delay the process.
