Notice to Jaya on privilege issue; AIADMK moves court

Chennai, Nov 1 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Assembly has issued notice to Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on a breach of privilege issue, raised against her by local administration minister M K Stalin, even as the AIADMK leader moved the Madras High court, challenging the notice.

Assembly secretariat issued the notice, seeking an explanation from Ms Jayalalithaa on the motion raised by Mr Stalin during the recently concluded monsoon session for her remarks at a press conference that he and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi were planning to 'eliminate' her.

The House had witnessed uproarious scenes when the opposition AIADMK members vehemently protested against Mr Stalin raising the issue, but Speaker R Avudaiyappan, holding that prima facie there was breach of privilege, referred the motion to the Privileges Committee.

In the notice, Ms Jayalalithaa has been asked to give her explanation by tomorrow.

The AIADMK members had contended in the House that breach of privilege could not be raised against Ms Jayalalithaa for the remarks allegedly made by her outside the House.

Meanwhile, Ms Jayalalithaa filed a petition before the Madras High Court, seeking to quash the notice. Counsel for Ms Jayalalithaa pressed for early hearing in view of the urgency of the matter and the petition is likely to come up for hearing before Justice Suguna, tomorrow.

The AIADMK leader is setting the stage for a confrontation between the Legislature and Judiciary by challenging the validity of the notice served by the Assembly.

On earlier occasions, the Assembly secretariat had refused to accept notices from the High Court, stating that the decision taken by the House were final.

UNI