HC issues notices to four Rajasthan MLAs; tiff revives

Jaipur, May 18 (UNI) The row between judiciary and legislature in Rajasthan has virtually been revived with Rajasthan High Court today issuing afresh notices to four members of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly and others for ''contempt of court''.

The single bench of Justice Mohammad Rafiq has also issued notices to MLAs Mahir Azad and Durga Prasad (both Congress) and Nathu Singh Gurjar and Madan Rathore (BJP), the Rajasthan Assembly secretary, state Chief Secretary and the Advocate General which are returnable by four weeks.

The court ordered the issuance of the notices afresh when the petitioner lawyer Amit Gupta urged saying that the earlier notices issued by the High Court could not be served up-on the respondants.

However, the Rajasthan Assembly speaker Mrs Sumnitra Singh taking exception to the notices said the legislature would not accept the notices.

She told UNI that she had also directed the concerned MLAs not to accept the notices.

The row arose during the budget session of the state assembly in March April earlier this year with a discussion on the issue of the Supreme Court's guidelines to the state government in the matter of the proposed Police Act. During the course of the discussion some MLAs had also made references over the working of the courts, pendency of cases and instances of corruption among court staff.

Later a public interest litigation petition for alleged contentmpt of court was filed in the Rajasthan High Court against the concerned MLAs.

The matter had taken ugly demension of a serious tiff between the judiciary and the legislature and the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Mrs Sumitra Singh was forced to seek intervention and guidelines from the Lok Sahba speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

However, later the row was reportedly pacified by mutual dialogue and clarification and speaker Mrs Singh had held that the row was over and there was no dispute between the two pillars of the democracy.

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