The Rajasthan High Court on Friday issued notice to the central and state governments on an ordinance that aims to protect public servants from being probed for on-duty action without prior government sanction.
The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance 2017 was promulgated in September.
"A division bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Deepak Maheshwari issued notice and asked for responses by November 27, the next date of hearing," A.K. Jain, advocate for Bhagwat Gour, one of the petitioners, told IANS.
The court also clubbed all seven writ petitions and Public Interest Litigations (PILs), including the plea filed by Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot, against the ordinance.
The main contention of almost all petitions is the ordinance violates Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution,
Article 14 provides for equality before law, while Article 19 deals with protection of certain rightsregarding freedom of speech.
The Rajasthan government on Tuesday referred to a Select Committee the Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill.
As per rules, though the bill may have gone to the select committee, the ordinance is still implementable for six weeks, till December 5.
On Monday, ignoring criticism from various quarters, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government headed by Vasundhara Raje tabled the bill in the Rajasthan assembly.
The bill seeks to protect serving and former judges, magistrates and public servants in the state from being investigated for on-duty action, without prior sanction.
It also bars the media from reporting on such accusations till the sanction to proceed with the probe is given by the government.
The state government, through the ordinance, made amendments in the Criminal Procedure code, 1973, and Indian Penal Code, 1980, in September.
LS poll battle: Only 9.83 pc candidates are women in NE states
Like previous Parliamentary elections, there are very few women candidates contesting in the 18th Lok Sabha elections in the six northeastern states, where filing of nominations were completed.
Tripura to go for 1st phase LS Poll on April 19; poll materials dispersed from Agartala amid tight security cover
More than 10,000 polling personnel, accompanied by police personnel, have begun transporting EVMs and other polling materials from Agartala Umakanta Academy to their assigned polling stations.
Multi-cornered contest in 15 NE seats going to polls in 1st phase on Friday
A multi-cornered contest will be witnessed in 15 Lok Sabha seats in the eight northeastern states as the first phase of the 7-phase parliamentary elections is held on Friday.
CM Arvind Kejriwal eating mangoes, sweets to raise blood sugar level: ED tells Delhi court
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said in a Delhi court that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was deliberately eating mangoes and other high-carb food to raise his blood sugar level to build a case for bail.
In Kerala rally, Rajnath Singh takes dig at Cong’s ‘Rahulyaan’, hurls ‘migration’ charge
Union Minister Rajnath Singh, while campaigning for BJP in Kerala’s Kottayam district on Thursday, took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said that ‘Rahulyaan’ is neither getting launched nor finding a suitable landing.
From Bihar to Punjab, how labourers turned into sharpshooters for Lawrence Bishnoi syndicate
Instead of solely targeting aspiring talents, the Bishnoi gang has now begun luring unsuspecting labourers with the promise of lucrative payouts.
PM Modi took decisive steps to bring peace in Northeast: BJP chief Nadda
BJP President J. P. Nadda has asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took decisive steps to bring peace in the Bodoland area of Assam by signing the Bodo peace accord.
Bitcoin scam case: ED attaches assets worth over Rs 97 cr of Raj Kundra, Shilpa Shetty
The attached properties include a residential flat in Juhu, which is in the name of Shilpa Shetty, another residential bungalow in Pune and equity shares in Raj Kundra's name.