Appeal filed by Assembly secy over gutkha display in House dismissed

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court dismissed the appeal petition filed by Tamil Nadu assembly secretary and privileges committee in 2020 against the single judge’s interim stay in favour of DMK legislators including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin for displaying gutkha sachets in the assembly.

The case was listed before a division bench comprising Justice D Krishnakumar and Justice Dhanabal on Thursday.

The additional advocate general S Silambanan and J Ravindran appeared before the bench and said that the state does not want to proceed with the appeal petition.

Observing this, the bench dismissed the petition.

In 2021, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Secretary and its Privileges Committee filed writ appeals challenging a single judge’s order which set aside fresh show-cause notices issued to DMK president MK Stalin and many DMK other legislators last year for having displayed gutkha sachets in the house in July 2017.

During the course of hearing in 2021, in Madras high court, Justices R. Subbiah and Sathi Kumar Sukumara Kurup allowed petitions moved by the appellants to dispense with the production of certified copies of the single judge’s order and instead permit the filing of the appeals on the basis of web copies.

The appeals had been filed against orders passed by Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana on February 10.

The original notices issued in 2017 were quashed by a division bench of the MHC in August 2020 with liberty to proceed further if the committee was still of the view that any of the privileges of the assembly had been breached.