KUNJAN NADAR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition by a member of the Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly who was arrested on the 12th August 1954 in connection with P.E. No. 9 of 1954 of the Court of the Stationary First Class Magistrate, Kuzhithurai, and against whom that case and P.E. No. 10 of 1954 are pending at present. Paragraph 5 of the petitioners affidavit states:-

(2.) According to the learned counsel for the petitioner his client has a paramount right to attend the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly and his detention though admittedly legal and under due process of law should be subordinated to that right and appropriate writs or directions to effectuate that right by permitting his client to take part in the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly commencing on the 25th January 1955 should be issued by us. We are unaware of the existence of any such right and our attention has not been drawn to any constitutional or statutory provision in that behalf.

(3.) Art. 194 deals with the powers, privileges and immunities of the Legislatures and their members in the Part A States and Art. 238 makes those powers, privileges and immunities available to the Legislatures and their members in the Part B States as well. Cl.(3) of Art.194 deals with the privileges and immunities available to the petitioner in a matter like this and they are, according to that clause such as may from time to time be defined by the Legislature by law and, until so defined, those of a member of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom at the commencement of the Constitution.