Gutkha row: Notice against CM infructuous, submits Advocate General

CHENNAI: The state submitted before the Madras High Court that since the tenure of previous Assembly has ended, the fresh show cause notices issued to DMK president MK Stalin and other DMK legislators for having displayed gutkha sachets in the Assembly in July 2017 has become infructuous.

A division bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice C Kumarappan heard the appeal moved by the then AIADMK government.

Advocate General (AG) PS Raman submitted the notices became infructuous as the previous Assembly has come to an end and sought permission to withdraw the appeal.

The counsel appearing for legislator Pollachi V Jayaraman submitted that his client, the chairman of previous privileges committee is filing a implead petition in this case. After the submission, the bench posted the matter to July 9 for further submission.

On July 19, 2017 DMK legislators, including MK Stalin, brought several sachets of gutkha, a banned substance, into the House to prove that it was still available in the markets.

The then Speaker P Dhanapal held that it was a breach of privilege to bring the banned substance into the Assembly and referred the matter to the Privileges Committee. The Privileges Committee on August 28, 2017 issued a show cause notice to 21 DMK legislators.

However, the MLAs moved the HC. A division bench held that there is foundational error in the show cause notice and set aside the breach of privilege motion. Challenging this order the Assembly secretary and Privileges Committee moved an appeal in the HC.