Chief Justice Indira Banerjee of the High Court of Madras has observed that the post of deputy chief-minister is not something for which a provision has been made in the Constitution by those who wrote it.

DMK’s Assembly Chief Whip Chakrapani had moved the High Court seeking disqualification of 11 MLAs including deputy chief-minister O. Panneerselvam, Semmalai and Minister Ma Foi Pandiarajan for not voting in favour of the then Edapadi K. Palaniswami-led AIADMK regime during February, 2017 when OPS had quit the party against Sasikala, who is in prison now in Bangalore in assets case.

The petition sought disqualification of these MLAs as they voted against the Govt. against the Party Whip’s instructions during the trust-vote held in February, 2017.

Former Union Law Minister and senior counsel Kapil Sibal represented the DMK and told the Court that OPS has now been made the deputy chief-minister against the provisions of the Constitutions in a Govt. which is functioning in an illegal manner. Chief Justice Indira Banerjee intervened to state that the post of deputy chief-minister wasn’t recognize as such by the Constitution.

The Court has stated indirectly that the deputy chief-minister’s post is not a ‘special’ one and that the person holding the post ought to be seen as any other Minister.