Chennai: The verdict of the third judge appointed by the Supreme Court in the 18 MLAs disqualification case would be passed shortly as the judge has posted the plea for final hearing on Aug. 23.

When the plea came up for hearing on Monday, senior counsel for the petitioner PS Raman submitted that when the governor himself refrained from action on the complaint made by the MLAs stating that the issue was an inter party issue, it cannot attract disqualification.





He said honest dissent by members couldn’t be construed as voluntarily giving up party membership. The MLAs have not given any resignation or have joined another political party, particularly the DMK, which is a primary ground for disqualification. He said the anti-defection law has been used against the members who dissent against a leader supported by a group.

Recording the submission, Justice M Sathyanarayanan has posted the plea to Thursday for final hearing.