On the petition of journalist Arnab Goswami against the show cause notice of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, the Supreme Court said, hearing can be done only after taking any action. The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has given a show-cause notice against Arnab for bringing a motion for breach of privilege regarding reporting on the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde said, as far as we know, this petition should be heard only if there was any action on the recommendation of the Privileges Committee of the House for show-cause notice. This notice has been issued to Arnab for some comments against Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray.
The court said, the court has to respect the law. According to our understanding of the law, when the committee takes action, only then the petition can be looked at. The petition cannot be heard by issuing a show-cause notice. The bench then adjourned the hearing for two weeks.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Goswami, said, according to a report, in this case, the notice issued in the final hearing was not given to the Secretary of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
To this, the bench said, if the Central Government has not been made a litigant, then how is Solicitor General Tushar Mehta lobbying the case. In response, Salve told the bench that the Central Government has also been served notice.
At this, the bench asked Salve to file an affidavit clarifying that the notice issued has not been given to the defendant (Maharashtra Assembly Secretary) in the case.
The CJI said, "I have little experience because my father Arvind Srinivas Bobde and eminent legalist late Nani Palkiwala were also sent a similar notice once by the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly."