RAMAPRASADA RAO, J. :- In these two writ petitions the petitioner is seeking a writ of Mandamus for a direction to the respondents 1 to 5 not to interfere in any manner with his right to continue to function as Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and also for a preventive injunction restraining the first respondent, the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, from functioning as Speaker thereto, and by way of a consequential relief asks for the quashing of the notification published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary No. 403 dated 2-12-1972 in Memo No. 22223/72-1 T. N. L. (B) Legislative Assembly III No. 676(a) of 1972, notifying the petitioner as having been removed from the Office of the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu legislative Assembly.

2. Before the relevant facts as reflected in the affidavits filed by the parties are dealt with, certain events anterior to the controversial date, when the petitioner claims that his right to occupy the seat as Speaker of the Assembly has been taken away, have to be noticed. During the General Elections in 1971 the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam as a party was returned to power with a strength of 185 in the House of the Tamil