Chennai, Oct 17 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu on Thursday approached the Madras High Court to quash a defamation complaint pending against him before a special court, trying cases related to MPs and MLAs.
Justice G Jayachandran, before whom the petition came up for hearing, ordered notice to the complainant, the AIADMK advocates wing joint secretary, Babu Murugavel.
The judge posted to October 22, for further hearing of the case.
In his petition, Appavu submitted that Babu Murugavel, in his complaint, made an allegation against him, that he had defamed the AIADMK. The allegation was that on November 21, 2023, the petitioner had claimed that 40 AIADMK MLAs had been ‘ready’ to switch over to the DMK after the demise of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2016.
Appavu said Babu Murugavel, has, therefore claimed, that the petitioner has committed an offence under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC. The Speaker said a reading of the private complaint reveals that it was illegal, inherently improbable and had political motives. Therefore, the complaint before the court is liable to be quashed.
Appavu said Babu Murugavel had not stated anywhere in his complaint that he had been authorised by the AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami to file the complaint.
No such authorisation has been filed with the complaint. Straightaway, on this ground alone,the present complaint was liable to be quashed as the issue is covered by judgements of this court.
This court has held time and again that for defamation of a political party, which was an association of persons, only persons at the “helm of affairs of the party” can file a complaint, he added.
He said the complaint was liable to be quashed as Babu Murugavel was not an office bearer, ‘at the helm of the party,’ nor had he been authorised by the party chief. PTI COR VGN KH
