CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday submitted to the Madras High Court that it was premature for the court to decide on the privilege motion initiated against 21 DMK MLAs including MK Stalin for waving gutka packets in the Tamil Nadu assembly in 2017 as the privilege committee is yet to make its observations.
Also, the state government said the Speaker has to protect the decorum and decency of the house, which was violated by the DMK by bringing a banned substance.
The first bench of Chief Justice AP Sahi and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy on Thursday heard the submission of AL Somayaji, senior advocate for the state. "The entire enquiry is still pending against the DMK MLAs by the committee and no decision has been rendered by it except for calling an explanation," he emphasized.
"The MLAs were all identified by videos inside the assembly for the display of the banned gutka and were asked for an explanation after being issued notices by the committee. However, without any explanation, they approached the court," argued Somayaji.
On the DMK contention that the privilege proceedings were a ploy to keep them out of the Assembly session whenever a fresh floor test was conducted, state advocate general Vijay Narayan said the party was always in a majority.
According to the laws prevailing and citing Supreme Court judgements, the AG contended that the assembly privilege committee's proceedings are an internal matter, which cannot be interfered with by the courts.
Recording the submissions, the court adjourned the plea.