No action on DMK MLAs till Oct 12 in gutkha case

When a batch of petitions filed by the DMK MLAs came up for hearing, Justice M Duraiswamy restrained the Speaker from taking any action against them till October 12 when the question of maintainability of the pleas filed by them would be decided. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appeared on behalf of the DMK in the case. The Assembly Privileges Committee had issued notices to 21 MLAs, including the Leader of Opposition M K Stalin for bringing banned gutkha products in the House on July 19. 

Arguing for the DMK MLAs, Kapil Sibal submitted that bringing gutkha packets into the assembly would not amount to breach of privilege. It may be recalled that during the debate in the Assembly on July 19 on illegal sale of gutkha and the steps taken by the government to prevent it, Stalin, displaying packets of banned gutkha, accused the government of not taking any steps to prevent its sale.  He said he was displaying the packets to show that it was easily available in the market and to counter the government’s claim that it had launched a crackdown on illegal sale of gutkha.

Objecting to this, Speaker P Dhanapal termed it as a breach of privilege issue and referred the matter to the privileges committee, which had issued notices to them seeking a reply.