Bringing a major relief to the Tamil Nadu Opposition DMK party, the Madras High Court has penned a positive judgment for MK Stalin and 18 other legislators after it has set aside the breach of privilege proceedings issued against the party for bringing and displaying the banned gutkha packets in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in 2017.  

It has been one of the crucial issues that have been irking the state opposition party for the past three years. In a stint to charge the ruling government in the assembly over the illegal sale of gutkha products in the markets, the DMK legislators had on July 19, 2017, taken the gutkha packets and the pictures of its sale in the markets to the assembly to prove that the banned substance is still available in the market even after it was banned by the Tamil Nadu government on May 23, 2017.  

The state government had on May 23, 2017, banned the manufacture, storage, and sale of gutkha and pan masala and DMK aimed to showcase the sale of the banned product and brought the banned substance to the assembly session, which is prohibited and it had drawn major controversy. Following DMK's actions in the assembly, House Speaker P Dhanapal said it was a violation of privilege that they had brought the banned substance to the assembly and he further referred the matter to the Privileges Committee for further investigation. 

Following the speaker's referral, the Privileges Committee had issued a show-cause notice for bringing the banned products to 21 DMK MLAs on August 28, 2017. After that, the concerned MLAs had moved their petitions challenging the notice to the Madras High Court. The High Court heard the matter and during the proceedings, DMK MLAs KPP Samy and J Anbalagan had died and after the hearing, it reserved orders on August 14. 

The first bench of the Madras High Court comprised of Chief Justice AP Sahi and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy had resumed the final proceedings of the case on Tuesday and the DMK's counsel had appeared before the bench for 18 DMK MLAs - excluding J Anbalagan, KPP Samy, and Ku Ka Selvam- who was recently removed from the party.  During the proceedings on Tuesday, the High Court bench had found foundational errors in the notice that was served by the Privilege Committee and the court had set-aside the breach of privilege motion against the DMK lawmakers. 

The High Court bench said that issuance of the impugned notice or breach of privilege based on the incident dated 19.07.2017, suffers from a foundational error and the petitioners cannot be proceeded against on the strength of the impugned notices dated 28.08.2018 by treating their conduct on 19.07.2017 of displaying gutkha products and photographs as being violative of any prohibitory law particularly the notification dated 23.5.2017.  

The High court order said the bench has left it open to the Privilege committee if it so chooses, to deliberate upon the issue any further in case it still is of the opinion that any breach has been committed of the privileges of the House by the petitioners and the petitioners have the liberty to raise all such objections that have raised before the bench or otherwise available in law. 

Addressing the reporters after the court's verdict, DMK lawyer said that the Tamil Nadu government had banned gutkha products but these banned products were available in the market and the DMK party had brought the matter to the attention of the government and they showed the proof with gutkha packets and the pictures in the assembly following which the government had raised the issue and served a show-cause notice to the DMK legislators. 

குட்கா ஊழலை அம்பலப்படுத்தும் எமது முயற்சியை மறைக்க நீதிவழுவி, திமுக எம்எல்ஏக்களுக்கு உரிமை மீறல் நோட்டீஸ் அனுப்பச் செய்த அதிமுக அரசின் சதியை சென்னை உயர்நீதிமன்றத்தின் தீர்ப்பு தகர்த்தெறிந்துள்ளது!

சட்டமன்ற ஜனநாயக மாண்பைக் காத்த சென்னை உயர்நீதிமன்றத் தீர்ப்பை மனதார வரவேற்கிறேன்! pic.twitter.com/rIbwqU4yy1

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) August 25, 2020

According to the sources, the High Court's order of setting aside the notice issued against the DMK MLAs including MK Stalin had shocked Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami as they hadn't expected this judgment. The government's advocates had brought to the attention of the Chief Minister and House Speaker and were shocked to learn that the court had poured relief to the opposition DMK party. Following the judgment, DMK President Stalin said the order from the High Court had cracked down the conspiracy of the ADMK government by sending notice to the breach of privilege for the DMK MLAs. He welcomed the judgment and stated that the High Court had saved the democratic dignity of the legislative assembly.