Chennai: The Madras High Court today quashed a fresh batch of privilege notices issued against DMK president M K Stalin and other party legislators for bringing gutka packets inside the State Assembly in 2017.
Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana quashed notices issued by Tamilnadu Legislative Assembly’s Committee of Privileges in September 2020.
The notices were issued to Stalin and 17 other members for having displayed gutka sachets in the Assembly.
The privilege notice was initially served by the Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal in 2017 against 21 DMK lawmakers – two died during the pendency of the case – on the ground that ‘prohibited items’ were brought into the Assembly by them.
Gutka (chewing tobacco) has been banned in Tamil Nadu since 2013.
The notices that were issued anew last year sought response from the members.
Deploring the issuance of the notices, DMK said the move was aimed at preventing the party MLAs from taking part in the Assembly session.
‘Stalin and the DMK members have filed writ petitions against the fresh notice’, a party statement had said at that time.
It recalled that the Madras High Court had already aside an earlier privilege notice against Stalin and the other MLAs, after they challenged it.
On 25 August, the Madras High Court, while making its observation, had left it to the Privilege Committee to deliberate on the issue further and examine whether the conduct would amount to a breach of privilege, particularly since the legality of a conduct does not necessarily mean that it is not a breach of privilege.
After examining the various offences set out in the May 2017 notification, the High Court ruled that the display of Gutkha sachets by the MLAs on the Assembly Floor, with the intent of highlighting its availability despite the ban, did not constitute an offence under the law banning gutkha in Tamilnadu.