CHENNAI: A special court in Chennai summoned Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu in a defamation case filed by an AIADMK functionary.

The special court at Chennai constituted to hear the cases related to MP/MLAs heard the defamation case moved by AIADMK legal wing joint secretary RM Babu Murugavel.

The petitioner's counsel submitted that the Speaker refused to receive the summon issued earlier.

Objecting to this, the defendant's counsel said that the earlier summon was not sent to the official address of the Speaker and submitted that his client is ready to appear before the court.

After the submission, the court ordered the appearance of the Speaker on September 13 and adjourned the hearing.

The petitioner alleged that the speaker, in November last year, made a speech at an event stating that after the demise of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, more than 40 Assembly members of AIADMK were ready to join DMK. He contended that the Speaker also claimed that a senior member of AIADMK approached him to assist in the shifting of loyalties.

It was submitted that the claim of the Speaker was fictitious to defame AIADMK. The petitioner also filed a criminal defamation complaint against the Speaker.