HC dismisses Nandlal’s petition

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by state election commissioner Nand Lal against the punishment awarded to him by the privileges committee of the state legislature.

Division bench of justices RMS Khandeparkar and Amjad Sayed was hearing a petition filed by Lal, challenging the legality of the sentence. Lal was held guilty by the privileges committee of the state assembly in March this year for not appearing before it with regard to a breach of privilege motion moved against him by Congress MLA Janardan Chandurkar.

Lal had refused to appear before the committee, but sent a written reply. The committee, however, held him guilty for contempt, for not appearing and sentenced him to two days��� civil imprisonment.

Lal then moved the high court, challenging the sentence. His lawyer Shrihari Aney argued that though court cannot go into merit of the privileges committee���s decision, it can examine whether the procedure adopted by the committee was legal.
According to Aney, the committee should have given Lal a separate showcause notice when it decided to punish him for not appearing before it.

The state assembly has not been represented by anybody in this case as it resolved not to entertain any notice from the high court in this case. Senior lawyer Rafiq Dada, who assisted the court as an a ���amicus curae��� (friend of the court) in this matter, pointed out that from the outset Nand Lal had not responded to the committee���s summons.

He had been asked three times by the committee to appear before it and defend himself on charges of breach of privilege, but did not appear, Dada said.

A breach of privilege notice was moved against Lal following his notification that state government cannot conduct elections to the local bodies as it was election commission���s prerogative.

Lal had earlier crossed swords with chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh over the delimitation of Deshmukh���s Latur constituency. His petition alleged vendetta by Deshmukh behind the action against him.