PMK intra-party dispute: Supreme Court upholds High Court view, civil court to adjudicate symbol row

New Delhi: Asking PMK founder S Ramadoss to approach the civil court, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld a Madras High Court decision dismissing his two petitions for a direction to the EC to either let his faction use the 'mango' symbol during the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry or freeze the symbol.

Ramadoss has been fighting a legal battle to restrain his son Anbumani from using the party's name, flag or symbol.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said that the Election Commission (EC) cannot decide a dispute over the allocation of symbols of an unregistered political party, and if the application is filed by Tuesday for remedy, the civil court may adjudicate it expeditiously.

"We do not find fault with the high court order. The high court appears to be correct that a dispute over the allocation of symbols of an unregistered political party cannot be decided by the Election Commission of India."

"However, it does not mean that an aggrieved party be left remediless. Thus, the party (PMK) is at liberty to move the civil court and if such an application is filed with the civil court by tomorrow, then let it be decided expeditiously," the bench ordered.

The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) party has challenged the February 20 decision of the Madras High Court dismissing two petitions filed by Ramadoss seeking a direction to the poll panel to either let his faction use the 'mango' symbol during the ensuing Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry or freeze the symbol altogether so that the faction led by his son Anbumani too would not be able to use it.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the PMK, said that if the symbol is unfreezed by the Election Commission, then anyone can be allotted the ‘mango’ symbol of the party by a lottery system.

Senior advocates Meenakshi Arora, Mukta Gupta and Shyam Divan, appearing for different parties, said the issue can be decided by the civil court alone as the Election Commission cannot adjudicate the dispute over symbols concerning unregistered political parties.

Singh, however, argued that it is the EC that will have to eventually decide the symbol of the party.

Elections to 234 Assembly seats are scheduled on April 23, with the counting slated for May 4.

On February 20, the high court refused to entertain the two petitions after agreeing with the EC's submission that factional disputes in a political party could be resolved only through a civil court decree, and no such direction as sought by the PMK party founder could be issued to the election commission.

On March 17, the high court directed the Chennai City civil court to take up the PMK intra-party leadership dispute case after May 10, when the election process in Tamil Nadu gets completed.

PMK founder S Ramadoss had moved the city civil court seeking to restrain his son Anbumani from using the party's name, flag or symbol.

Anbumani too has filed a counter case. During the trial, PMK general secretary Vadivel Ravanan filed an impleading petition seeking to make himself a party to the case and his plea was accepted by the high court.

The high court had refrained from vacating the existing interim stay on the lower court proceedings, and said the intra-party leadership dispute case could be taken up after May 10 once the election process in Tamil Nadu was completed.

On March 12, the high court granted an interim stay on a city civil court proceedings in the PMK leadership dispute case and held it was necessary that party general secretary (Vadivel Ravanan) be made a party to the proceedings.

On December 26, last year, the infighting in the PMK intensified after party founder S Ramadoss issued a public notice through his lawyers warning his son Anbumani against using the party's name, flag or symbol.

Anbumani was expelled by the Ramadoss-led party in September last year. In the notice issued through his advocates, S Ramadoss had cited a December 4 verdict of the Delhi High Court to state that the party was in his control.

However, Anbumani continues to claim that he is the party president.