The legislature and the judiciary have come face to face over the privilege violation motion brought against the Editor-in-chief of Republic TV Group Arnab Goswami. A resolution has passed in the Assembly and Legislative Council on Tuesday against the order of the Supreme Court, stating that in the Arnab case, the House will neither take cognizance of any notice of the High Court or the Supreme Court nor respond to it.
A two-day winter session was going on in Maharashtra, on the last day, both the houses got a majority vote in this proposal. Assembly speaker Nana Patole, declaring to pass it unanimously said that the speaker and deputy speaker Narhari Jirwal will not respond to any notice and summons issued by the Supreme Court.
'It is against the basic structure of the Constitution'
The motion tabled in the House states that answering any notice of the court will mean that the judiciary can further monitor the legislature and this would be against the basic structure of the constitution. Speaker Nana Patole in the assembly said that the constitution has set certain limits for the three wings of the government - the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive. Every organ should respect these limits. No one should try to interfere with each other's boundaries.
Responding to notice means giving the judiciary the authority to monitor the legislature
Speaker Ramraje Naik Nimblekar in the Legislative Council also announced the unanimous passage of the resolution. It also states that if Arnab Goswami challenges the privilege violation proceedings to the judiciary, so the House will not respond to any notice and summons issued by the High Court or the Supreme Court. Nimbalkar said that if the legislature, secretariat, and its secretaries and other officers in public respond to the court notice, it would mean that they are giving the judiciary the right to monitor the legislature and it violates the basic structure of the constitution.
Why the breach of privilege motion was issued against Arnab
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Secretariat has issued a notice of breach of privilege to Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic Television, for submitting a copy of the proceedings of the House to the Supreme Court without the permission of the Speaker. Arnab was issued a notice on 13 October and after that, he was sent notice to file his explanation four times, but he did not appear even once. The breach of Privilege motion was moved in the Assembly by Shiv Sena’s Pratap Sarnaik on September 8 against Goswami. Sarnaik accused Goswami of using “derogatory language” and “making baseless remarks” against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP president Sharad Pawar, and “frequently insulting” Ministers and MPs during TV debates.