HC dismisses plea to deny nod for AIADMK meet

Madurai: The Madras high court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking not to grant permission for the AIADMK conference which is to be held in Madurai district on August 20, Sunday. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami is to participate in the conference.The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by V K R Sethumuthuramalingam, a resident of Karaikudi. The petitioner stated that the conference to be conducted at Perungudi in Madurai is very close to the Madurai airport. Since hoardings are installed and crackers would be burst, it could pose a threat to aircrafts during landing and takeoff. He further stated that since lakhs of people would be visiting the conference, it would cause traffic snarls.He had submitted a representation to the authorities, since the same was pending, the petitioner had filed the present petition.Senior counsel for AIADMK general secretary submitted that permission for the conference was granted by the police after consultation with the airport authorities on July 31. One of the conditions imposed by the police is that no firecrackers should be burst during the programme. The petitioner has not challenged the order which had granted permission and is making an attempt to stop the conference at the last minute.Taking cognizance of the submissions, a division bench of justice S S Sundar and justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy dismissed the petition.This apart, a person S Ganesa Thevar of Sivaganga district had filed a petition before HC seeking for a direction to the Madurai city police to grant permission for the protest near Munichalai on August 20. The petitioner stated that he belongs to the maravar community. He stated that when Palaniswami was the CM, he had brought the 10.5% reservation for vanniyars which was subsequently struck down by the Supreme Court.Since the 10.5% reservation was brought by Palaniswami by affecting the reservation of the people belonging to his community, they planned to protest. Hence, the petitioner filed the present petition.When the case was taken up for hearing, the counsel for the petitioner sought permission to withdraw the petition stating that the police had granted permission for the protest on August 19. Taking into account the submission, justice D Nagarjun dismissed the petition as withdrawn.
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