Gag order: Rajasthan High Court notice to Centre, state

Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court on Friday issued notices to the central and state governments over The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, hearing seven petitions challenging the ordinance. The notice was issued by a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Deepak Maheshwari while hearing petitions filed by Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot, Aam Aadmi Party leader Poonam Chand Bhandari, advocate Bhagwat Gour, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, social activist Srijana Shreshth and others.

The petitions contended that the ordinance violated constitutional provisions and was “illegal.” “It was a short hearing; all seven petitions were clubbed together. When the case was opened, Sachin Pilot’s petition was listed first. So the court made a pointed query that if you are asking for a stay on the ordinance, is there any case where a case might not have been registered because of it, or if the press was stopped from publishing anything,” said advocate Ajay Kumar Jain, who was representing Gour.

Jain said he told the court about a case against a top Jaipur district administration official and another against a Jaipur civic agency where the court has not granted sanction and nor have the allegations of irregularities been published anywhere because of the ordinance.

“The court asked the state to submit its reply in four weeks, and listed the matter for November 27,” said Poonam Chand Bhandari, who is also in-charge of AAP’s Rajasthan Legal Cell.