Rajasthan criminal law ordinance: High Court issues notice to Centre, state

“It was a short hearing; all seven petitions were clubbed together. When the case was opened, Sachin Pilot’s petition was listed first. So the court made a pointed query that if you are asking for a stay on the Ordinance, is there any case where a case might not have been registered because of it, or if the press was stopped from publishing anything,” said advocate Ajay Kumar Jain, who was representing Gour.

Jain said he told the court about a case against a top Jaipur district administration official and another against a Jaipur civic agency where the court has not been granted sanction and nor have the allegations of irregularities been published anywhere because of the Ordinance.

The Ordinance prohibits investigation without prior sanction against “a Judge or a Magistrate or a public servant”, acting or former, for any “act done by them while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of their official duties”. Under its provisions, the media too cannot report on the accusation against such a person until the prosecution gets the go-ahead from the sanctioning authority, which may take up to six months. The government had tabled a Bill in Rajasthan Assembly on Monday, to replace the Ordinance, but the Bill was referred to a Select Committee by the government following intense criticism. The Ordinance, however, will be in force for six weeks from October 23, when the Bill was stabled.

Earlier, Pilot said that, “The Chief Minister and the state government have referred the Bill to a Select Committee as a ‘face saver’. However, there is no justification for this, since the essence of this Bill is to provide a legal shield to corruption; it intends to throttle the media. So there is nothing to reconsider in the Bill and even though it has been referred to a Select Committee, the Ordinance is still in implementation. So I appealed before the High Court that this Ordinance is against Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution and is illegal. ”

“The court asked the state to submit its reply in four weeks, and listed the matter for November 27,” said Poonam Chand Bhandari, who is also in-charge of AAP’s Rajasthan Legal Cell.