Amitha Muraleedharan
The Supreme Court considered the petition filed by Arnab Goswami in opposition to the breach of privilege notice issued by the Maharashtra Assembly against him.
The counsel appearing for Goswami stated that the Assistant Secretary, Vilas Athawale interrogated Goswami about producing confidential communication between Speaker and Privilege Committee before Court.
The reply filed by the Secretary before the bench headed by CJI S. A. Bobde said that he acted upon the direction and instruction of the Speaker.
Senior Advocate Harish Salve said that the Secretary “has repeatedly said that he was only acting on the directions of the Speaker.”
He further said, “I have placed before Your Lordships the show-cause notice and the annexures to the notice. I was following the Hansard Rule, for what happened in the House can only be shown by the official publications.
The affidavit says that he was acting under the instructions of the Speaker to issue the show-cause notice.”
The court adjourned the matter by 2 weeks for the submissions.
The court also opined from Senior Advocate Arvind Datar, having been appointed Amicus Curiae in the matter about the written submission.
Senior Advocate A. M. Singhvi, having represented the state of Maharashtra at the previous occasion, also tried to present a submission in connection with a separate matter.
But the court adjourned the matter for two weeks.