Court slaps Rs 1 lakh fine on petitioner seeking recovery of poll expenses from resigned MLAs

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has dismissed a plea seeking directions to former MLAs Margatham Kumaravel, S Jayakumar, P Sathyabama, Esakki Subaya, C Vijayabaskar and MR Vijayabhaskar to reimburse election expenses after resigning, and imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan noted that a similar plea seeking the same relief had already been dismissed. The court held that it lacked the power to issue such directions and that the matter was for the Legislature to decide.

The petitioner, advocate S Kasi Ramalingam, sought a declaration that the former MLAs' resignations were not genuine and amounted to a betrayal of the voters' trust. He argued that the present plea was different from the earlier one and contended that the court had inherent powers to issue directions in the absence of any specific law.

The bench, however, declined to entertain the plea and dismissed it. It observed that the PIL was nothing but a publicity litigation filed with an ulterior motive.

The court directed the petitioner to pay Rs 1 lakh in costs to the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority.