A week after the privileges committee of the Tamil Nadu Assembly issued notices to 21 DMK MLAs for bringing in gutka into the House, the DMK on Tuesday moved the Madras High Court on Tuesday. Filing a petition in the High Court, the DMK sought to scrap the notices issued against them.
In its petition, the party has stated that the Tamil Nadu government is attempting to suspend its MLAs ahead of a possible trust vote in the Assembly.
Last week, the privileges committee had sent notices to DMK working president and Leader of Opposition MK Stalin and 20 MLAs. They had been asked to file a response in a week.
On July 19, 2017, DMK carried gutka, a banned substance, into the state assembly. According to Times of India, Stalin held up packets of gutka in the Assembly and accused the government of not taking any steps to prevent its sale in the state. He alleged that the banned substance was easily available despite the government claiming that it had initiated a crackdown on its sale.
Speaker P Dhanapal called bringing the banned substance into Assembly a “breach of privilege” and referred it to the privileges committee.
DMK MLAs had argued that the packets were brought to prove a point about the availability of the substance. “After the gutka packets were shown inside the assembly, action has been taken against several traders and the banned substance has been seized. Thus, it is only after our Thalapathi raised the issue that the government has taken action," said Regupathi, a DMK leader to ToI.
On Monday, the DMK MLAs had sought 15 days’ time to reply to the notice, handing over a request letter a senior official in the state Assembly. "We have mentioned that the notice sent by them does not come under the privileges ambit. But we have sought 15 days' time to consult our legal experts in order to draft a due response," Stalin said.