CHENNAI: Madras High Court on Thursday passed an interim stay until further orders to all the proceedings on the fresh show-cause notice issued to DMK chief MK Stalin and 17 other MLAs on September 7 by the Tamil Nadu Assembly Privilege Committee for displaying Gutkha sachets inside the house in 2017. The court also issued notices to the Assembly Speaker, Secretary, Chairman Assembly Privilege Committee, and Pollachi V Jayaraman returnable by October 28.
Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana passed the orders on the plea moved by DMK MK Stalin and 17 others MLAs.
According to the petitioner, MK Stalin, "The timing for the issuance of the notice dated September 7 seeking an explanation/ reply by September 14 is not innocuous or coincidental, as the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (“Assembly“) is scheduled to convene from September 14. I submit that the malafides are writ large on the face of the Notice dated September 7 as its primary objective is to prevent the Petitioner and other legislators belonging to the principal opposition party from attending the upcoming Assembly session."
Appearing for the DMK senior advocates R Shanmugasundaram, NR Elango, and Amit Anand Tiwari contended that the fresh notice was not necessary and also the first division bench recently in its order observed " foundational error" in the earlier notice served by the privilege committee in 2017.
The court during the hearing observed, "The act of displaying gutka packets inside the assembly was already condoned by the first division bench of this court through the order dated August 25, 2020.”
State Advocate General Vijay Narayan contended that the earlier notices were issued for bringing ‘prohibited’ materials inside the House. But the present notice is for bringing gutka packets and displaying them in the assembly without prior permission of the speaker, he added.