New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday, February 23, upheld the Madras high court's order allowing Edappadi Palaniswamy or EPS to continue as the interim general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party.

The order comes as a setback to O. Paneerselvam or OPS, who was expelled from the party’s primary membership in June last year and lost the post of treasurer after the Madras high court ruled against him. The party's supporters have been divided into two camps since dispute between the two escalated after the death of party supremo J. Jayalalithaa in December 2016.

The same high court on August 17, ordered maintaining the status quo ante of the June order.

A division bench of Justices Dinesh Maheswari and Hrishikesh Roy also made absolute the apex court's interim order of July 6, 2022, in which it had stayed the Madras high court's restraint on the AIADMK's general council – with EPS as head – passing any resolutions, LiveLaw has reported.

The apex court also noted that this order will not have any bearing on a suit pending before the high court over other disputes between EPS and OPS.

LiveLaw also reported that the apex court further clarified that it has not dealt with the contentions regarding the validity of the AIADMK's general council meeting of July 11, 2022, which is to be decided in the suit.

The Supreme Court also dismissed petitions filed by OPS against a September order passed by the Madras high court which reversed an earlier order for maintaining status quo concerning AIADMK leadership.

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