Madras High Court Fines Lawyer ₹1 Lakh Over PIL on Resigned Tamil Nadu MLAs
The Madras High Court imposed ₹1 lakh costs on a Chennai advocate whose PIL sought to make six resigned Tamil Nadu MLAs pay for byelections and bar them from re-contesting.
The Madras High Court on Tuesday imposed costs of ₹1 lakh on a Chennai-based advocate who filed a public interest litigation petition seeking to make six former Tamil Nadu MLAs bear the expense of the byelections held after their resignations, and to bar them from contesting any election during the current term of the Legislative Assembly.
The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan dismissed the petition filed by S. Kasi Ramalingam, observing that it appeared to have been brought for publicity. The judges noted that only the previous week they had dismissed a similar case on merits.
That earlier petition, filed by advocate K. Suthan, had also sought to recover byelection costs from the resigned legislators and to disqualify them from contesting for five years. The Bench held that the Election Commission of India could not be directed to take such steps, as it has no independent power under Article 324 or otherwise to add to the existing list of disqualifications. A court cannot, through a writ of mandamus, grant the Commission a power it does not possess, the judgment said.
In its September 24, 2026 verdict, the Division Bench further held that any law addressing the practice of legislators resigning to switch allegiance and immediately re-contesting from the same seat in state-funded byelections must be enacted by Parliament. The existing legal framework places no restriction on the practice, it noted, adding that the right to resign a legislative seat is part of the constitutional scheme and cannot be burdened with extra-statutory conditions by judicial order.
The judges said the fresh petition by Mr. Ramalingam was filed on identical grounds against six individuals who had resigned as MLAs: C. Vijayabaskar (Viralimalai), M.R. Vijayabhaskar (Karur), Esakki Subaya (Ambasamudram), P. Sathyabama (Dharapuram), K. Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam), and S. Jayakumar (Perundurai). The plea was dismissed with costs.