A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra adjourned the hearing on the bureaucrats’ plea to July 19. This decision came after a lawyer representing the Lok Sabha Secretariat informed the court that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was unavailable due to being out of the country.
![[Breaking] CJI Extends Stay on Notices Issued by LS Pivileges Panel to West Bengal Officials Till Jul 19](https://i0.wp.com/lawchakra.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image-40-2.png?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
New Delhi: Today (15th July): The Supreme Court extended the stay on notices from the Lok Sabha Secretariat summoning West Bengal’s chief secretary, DGP, and others until July 19, concerning an alleged breach of the House’s privilege by them.
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On April 15, the court granted a two-week period for the Lok Sabha Secretariat and others to respond to a plea by top bureaucrats of West Bengal against their summoning by the Lok Sabha’s privileges committee.
The summoning occurred following a complaint of “misconduct” filed by BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar, related to his attempt to visit the violence-affected Sandeshkhali area in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra adjourned the hearing on the bureaucrats’ plea to July 19. This decision came after a lawyer representing the Lok Sabha Secretariat informed the court that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was unavailable due to being out of the country.
“We will list it on Friday. And, in the meantime, the ad-interim relief will continue,”
stated the CJI.
Meanwhile, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi, representing the five bureaucrats and officials of the West Bengal government, argued that no breach of privileges could be alleged for actions taken outside the House.
On February 19, the Supreme Court had initially stayed the notices issued by the privileges committee to the West Bengal chief secretary, director general of police, and others.
Majumdar was hospitalized after BJP workers clashed with police over being denied entry to Sandeshkhali, where women were protesting alleged atrocities by now-suspended TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his aides.
Several women accused Sheikh, who was arrested in February after evading capture for 55 days, and his supporters of land grabbing and sexual assault.
Chief Secretary Bhagwati Prasad Gopalika, the then DGP Rajeev Kumar, and others, including the district magistrate and superintendent of police of North 24 Parganas, were summoned by the Lok Sabha’s privileges committee on February 19.
Singhvi argued in court that the privileges committee had never acted so quickly and insisted there was “no breach by any iota of imagination.”
The respondents in the petition filed by the state officials include the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Committee of Privileges of the Lok Sabha, Majumdar, the Department of Personnel and Training, and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
