CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday set aside its order that had quashed fresh show cause notices issued to DMK legislators including Chief Minister MK Stalin for displaying gutkha sachets in the Assembly in July 2017.

A division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and C Kumarappan directed the Privileges Committee of the State Assembly to continue with the proceedings against DMK legislators including CM Stalin.

The HC's order was pronounced on an appeal moved by the legislative assembly secretary and the Privileges Committee of the former AIADMK regime.

The bench refused the contention of the DMK legislators that the show cause notices had attained a lapse following the dissolution of the previous Assembly, when the show cause notices were issued.

It observed that the sovereign nature of the Assembly must be respected and that the breach of privileges cannot be washed away after the dissolution of the Assembly.

On July 19, 2017, DMK legislators including MK Stalin brought several sachets of gutkha, a banned substance, into the House to prove that it was still available in the markets.

The then Speaker P Dhanapal had held that it was a breach of privilege to bring the banned substance into the Assembly and referred the matter to the Privileges Committee, which on August 28, 2017, issued show cause notices to 18 DMK legislators.

The legislators later moved the High Court challenging the show cause notices. A division bench of the HC had held that there was a foundational error in the show cause notices and set aside the breach of privilege motion against the DMK MLAs.