India downplays US court''s summons against Kamal Nath

New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) Downplaying the issue of a UScourt summoning Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Indiatoday said it was an "old" matter and maintained that acabinet minister, if travelling officially, had diplomaticimmunity.

There is nothing new in these reports and this an "oldissue", government sources said here, adding that there was aglobal understanding that people holding high positions suchas union ministers in government enjoy certain kind ofdiplomatic immunity in foreign countries.

Earlier, the US State Department in Washington said ithas made "no determination" on the question of diplomaticimmunity for the minister against the backdrop of the summonsissued against him by a US court on a lawsuit alleging hisinvolvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The State Department here said that the US is lookingforward to working with Kamal Nath in his new capacity as theUrban Development Minister.

"The immunity question remains under review by theState Department. We have not not made any determination onthis point," a State Department official told PTI in responseto media reports that it has denied "diplomatic immunity"request from India.