Enjoining Orders Issued by Trincomalee Courts Restrain Newly Elected ITAK President Sivagnanam Shritharan and Other Office Bearers from Functioning in their Party Posts.

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Jeyaraj’s Jottings

The Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi(ITAK) known in English as the Federal Party(FP) recently elected a new President and other key office bearers for a two year term from 2024 to 2026. However in an unexpected twist of fate the new President Sivagnamam Shritharan as well as other newly elected party officials have been restrained from functioning in their posts because of two enjoining orders issued by the Trincomalee District Judge Manickavasagam Ganesharajah on 15 February 2024.

The General Council (Podhu Chabhai) of the ITAK convened in Trincomalee on 21 January and 27 January 2024. A presidential election was held on 21 Jan in which Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran by 47 votes in a straight fight. Of the 321 General Council members who voted 184 voted for Shritharan and 137 for Sumanthiran.

Subsequently the ITAK General council met again on 27 January 2024 and elected new office bearers for the post of General Secretary and other key posts. The list of ITAK office bearers elected for 2024 to 2026 are as follows -President – Sivagnanam Shritharan. Senior Vice President – CVK Sivagnanam. Vice Presidents – Charles Nirmalanathan, T. Kalaiarasan, P. Ariyanendran, P. Sathialingam and KV Thavarasa; General Secretary – Shanmugam Kugathasan. Deputy General Secretary – Xavier Kulanayagam. Assistant Secretaries – Shanthi Sriskandarajah, Ranjani Kanagarajah, Krishnapillai Seyon, T. Krukularajah, E. Saravanabavan and C Sivamohan. Joint Treasurers – P. Kanagasabapathy and Gnanamuthu Sreenesan. Currently none of the above mentioned office bearers including “president”Shritharan can function in their posts.

Trincomalee was the venue of the ITAK General Council conclaves. The National Convention was also to be held there. In Trincomalee a petition was filed seeking an interim injunction against the holding of the party Convention on 19 Feb and the functioning of the new office bearers,the petition was filed by lawyer, Aishwarya Sivakumar on behalf of Para Chandrasekaram, the owner of “Para Hotel” and a resident of Konesapuri in Saambaltheevu. He is a member of the ITAK in the Trincomalee District.

When the case was heard by Trincomalee District Judge, Manickavasagam Ganesharajah on 15 February, Geoffrey Alagaratnam PC along with Attorney-at-Law, Purantharan appeared for the petitioner.

Seven ITAK leaders were named as respondents. They were Somasundaram Senathirajah, Sivagnanam Shritharan, M.A. Sumanthiran, Shanmugam Kugathasan, Pathmanathan Sathialingam, Seenithamby Yogeswaran and Xavier Kulanayagam.

Of these, Senathirajah known as “Maavai” was the ITAK President from 2014 to 2024. Shritharan was elected as the new ITAK President on January 21. Sumanthiran was a candidate at the party Presidential poll.Both Shritharan and Sumanthiran are Jaffna district MPs. “Maavai” is a former Jaffna MP.

Shanmugam Kugathasan is the ITAK Trincomalee District Chairman. He was elected as the new General Secretary of the ITAK on 27 January. Pathmanathan Sathialingam, a medical doctor was functioning as the Acting General Secretary of the ITAK until a new secretary was elected on the 27th. He is a former Northern Provincial Council Minister.

Seenithamby Yogeswaran is a former Batticaloa District MP. He was also a candidate for the ITAK Presidency, but withdrew in favour of Shritharan. Xavier Kulanayagam was elected as the ITAK’s new Deputy General Secretary on January 27. He was earlier the party’s Administrative Secretary.

After hearing submissions praying for an Interim Injunction on behalf of Petitioner Para Chandrasekaram, Trincomalee District Judge, Manickavasagar Ganesharajah issued two Enjoining Orders valid for 14 days until 29 February when the next hearing is scheduled.

One enjoining order restrained the seven defendants namely, Messrs Senathirajah, Shritharan, Sumanthiran, Kugathasan, Sathialingam, Yogeswaran and Kulanayagam from holding/conducting the purported National Convention on 19 February 2024 until the hearing and determination of the application for an injunction.

The other Enjoining Order restrained the seven defendants, Senathirajah, Shritharan, Sumanthiran, Kugathasan, Sathialingam, Yogeswaran and Kulanayagam from implementing any of the purported decisions taken at the purported General Council meetings held on 21 and 27 January 2024 until the hearing and determination of the application for an injunction.

The Trincomalee Court’s Enjoining Order has restrained the party from implementing decisions taken by the General Council on January 21 and 27. What this meant was that the party Presidential election on January 21 and the election of other office bearers on January 27 cannot be followed through. None of those elected can function in their posts until the Courts make their final decision. The stay order is likely to be extended further unless an amicable agreement is reached soon.The next hearing is on 29 Feb 2024.

D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com