Supreme Court: In a civil writ petition by the Director General of Police, Chief Secretary, District Magistrate and two other officials (petitioners) against the Lok Sabha Secretariat’s (Privileges and Ethics) Office Memoranda requiring their personal presence before the Committee of Privileges, the three Judge Bench of Dr. DY Chandrachud, CJI., JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, JJ. allowed the petition and stayed the Lok Sabha Privileges and Ethics Committee proceedings against the petitioners.
A complaint was filed by Sukanta Majumdar, Bharatiya Janata Party’s President in West Bengal before the Lok Sabha Secretariat alleging that he was mistreated during the protests in Sandeshkhali, a village in West Bengal on February 13 and 14. Subsequently, the Lok Sabha Secretariat (Privileges and Ethics) issued an Office Memoranda dated 15-02-2024 requiring the personal presence of Rajeev Kumar, DGP/IGP; Hossain Mehedi Rehman, Superintendent of Police; Partha Ghosh, Additional SP; Bhagwati Prasad Gopalika, Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal and Sharad Kumar Dwivedi, District Magistrate before the Committee of Privileges.
The Court issued notice to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Privileges and Ethics Committee and BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar. The Court stayed any further proceedings in pursuance of the Office Memoranda issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat against the petitioners. The matter was further listed for hearing on 22-03-2024.
[Bhagwati Prasad Gopalika v. Lok Sabha Secretariat (Privileges and Ethics), 2024 SCC OnLine SC 168, Decided on 19-02-2024]
