Court refuses to freeze PMK’s mango symbol

Chennai: In a reprieve to former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss, a city civil court on Thursday refused to freeze PMK's election symbol ‘mango'. Instead, the court has directed the founder of the party, Dr S Ramadoss, to approach Election Commission of India (ECI) for any relief."The consistent stand of ECI is that it does not adjudicate internal disputes of political parties, but proceeds based on materials placed before it for the limited purpose of symbol allotment. Therefore, any direction sought by the plaintiff (Dr Ramadoss), which would have the effect of restraining or altering the allotment of an electoral symbol at this stage, would inevitably impinge upon the ongoing election process," XIII assistant judge M Dharmaprabu said.Such an order, if granted, would not only disturb the level playing field among candidates but may also create confusion among the electorate, which is against public interest. The balance of convenience lies in allowing the election process to proceed unhindered, and no irreparable injury would be caused to the plaintiff, as the rights of the parties can always be adjudicated at the time of trial and appropriate relief can be granted thereafter, if warranted, the court added.The court then dismissed the pleas moved by Dr Ramadoss seeking to freeze PMK's election symbol ‘mango', in view of an ongoing dispute between two factions of the party. On March 12, a single judge of the Madras high court passed an interim stay against the proceedings of a civil suit moved by Dr Ramadoss in the city civil court, seeking to restrain his son Anbumani Ramadoss from using the name, flag and election symbol of PMK.Aggrieved, Dr Ramadoss approached the Supreme Court challenging the high court order. Refusing to interfere, the Supreme Court observed that the ECI cannot decide a dispute over the allocation of symbols of an unregistered political party, and if the application is filed before the jurisdictional civil court, the court may adjudicate it expeditiously.