Mohan Kataraki, senior advocate of the Supreme Court, said that Maharashtra MP Dhariyasheel Mane’s claim that the Belagavi district administration had violated his privileges by issuing an injunction was baseless.
Mr. Kataraki told The Hindu that Mohammad Roshan, Deputy Commissioner, Belagavi acted in accordance with the law to bar Maharashtra MPs from entering Belagavi for the MES’s Black Day observation.
“Mr. Mane’s complaint against the DC lacks legal merit. The prohibitory order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the successor to Section 144 of the CrPC, was a valid administrative measure to prevent the apprehension of breach of peace during the sensitive observance of the ‘Black Day’ tied to each individual border dispute, kaharnatarashka and no one including a Member of Parliament, a member of the Legislature or even the Chief Minister and the Speaker governments are exempt from their functioning. Parliamentary privilege under Article 105 only protects proceedings in Parliament, not external political activities that could inflame tensions in the volatile region,” he said.
“Belagavi district administrations have consistently imposed similar preventive restrictions on leaders from both states during border-related incidents. The DC’s action was prudent, impartial and essential to public order. Equating routine enforcement of law and order with contempt of Parliament upsets the constitutional balance and disregards the Supreme Court’s settled position on the dispute. In view of the above, it is likely that Mr. Lokha will reject and in my opinion Mr. Lokha will refuse. Mane,” he said.
Published – 25 Dec 2025 19:09 IST
