Former Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative assembly and senior ADMK party leader, Paul Hector Pandian, who commonly known as P.H. Pandian has passed away on Saturday at a private hospital in Chennai where he was undergoing medical treatments. He was aged 74 and regarded as one of the notable speakers of the house who led the assembly during the ADMK party's drift after the expiry of M G Ramachandran.

The reports say that he has been receiving treatments for heart problems for the past few months and he was even admitted to Vellore Christian Medical College last September for the ailment. Pandian joined the ADMK party in 1972 and he served as the sixth speaker of the Assembly after the Madras Presidency was renamed as Tamil Nadu. He held the post for four years from 27th February 1985 to 5th February 1989 and he was the last speaker to serve the assembly when M G Ramachandran was the Chief Minister. 

He kept the post after the demise of MGR during which the party had cracked down into two divisions- one headed by MGR's wife Janaki and the other one by Jayalalithaa. Initially, Pandian had supported Janaki but later he backed Jayalalithaa. Pandian has also served as the legal advisor of Jayalalithaa between 1996 and 1999 when the disproportionate assets case was filed against the former Chief Minister.

After serving the assembly as four-time MLA and as a Speaker, he was then elected as Member of Parliament from Tirunelveli in 1999 and his son Manoj Pandian was the party's member of Rajya Sabha from 2010 and 2016. PH Pandian has come to the spotlight after the demise of J Jayalalithaa in 2016 after he publicly backed O Pannerselvam who revolted against the rise of VK Sasikala as party's general secretary and by opposing Sasikala's elevation, PH Pandian alleged that Jayalalithaa didn't die under the natural circumstances.

PH Pandian was born in 1945 in Tirunelveli and he has completed his Bachelor's degree in Science and Master of Arts in criminology and Forensic science after which he obtained a law degree from the Madras Law College and he was practicing law in the Madras High court for about 26 years.