Aanchal Agarwal –
Published on: September 3, 2021, at 09:10 IST
The Madras High Court today rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which sought directions to the Legislative Assembly Secretariat on the treatment of the MLA’s.
The Secretariat had treated the MLA’s using symbols of different parties and not their party as members of other parties and not as members of their parent parties.
The Petition was filed by an Advocate from Coimbatore M Loganathan.
The litigant in his Petition stated that around 8 MLA’s from different political parties had contested under the rising sun symbol of DMK.
Petitioner requested that all these MLA’s must not be seated separately in the House or allotted different time slots. They must be treated as members of the ruling party.
The Petitioner also requested the Court to direct the State Government to not allow these MLA’s or leaders of their parent parties to attend party meetings conducted to discuss important issues as representatives of those parties.
M Loganathan stated the names of those 8 MLA’s as E R Easwaran, M H Jawahirullah, K Chinappa, M Boominathan, T Velmurugan, P Abdul Samad, T SadhanTirumalai Kumar and A R RRaghuraman.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu rejected his plea stating that the Speaker can treat the MLA’s in any fashion inside the house.
Moreover, it was also stated by the Court that it cannot interfere in such matters related to the Assembly.
The Bench further observed that the matter did not need any Judicial interference, nor any public interest.
The Court held that the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ between the Legislature and the Judiciary must be kept intact at all times.
Also Read: A Complete overview of High Courts in India
