Gutka row: Interim orders to be passed on Thursday

CHENNAI: Raising several queries on the fresh notice issued by the Assembly Privilege Committee, the Madras High Court on Wednesday adjourned petitions filed by DMK chief MK Stalin and 17 other MLAs seeking interim orders, to Thursday.

“The act of displaying gutka packets inside the Assembly was already condoned  by the first division bench through an order dated August 25,” observed Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana.

Appearing for DMK, senior advocates R Shanmugasundaram, NR Elango and Amit Anand Tiwari contended that the fresh notice was not necessary and that the first bench had observed “foundational error” in the earlier notice served by the privilege committee in 2017.

State Advocate General Vijay Narayan replied: “There is no urgency for staying the proceedings. Let the MLAs reply to the committee through the proceedings. The committee may even decide that their actions do not amount to a breach of privilege.”