CHENNAI, July 22 -- Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker J C D Prabhakar on Tuesday clarified that the Speaker's office had no role in the arrest of DMK MLA Markandayan G V over his alleged remarks against chief minister C Joseph Vijay.

At a party meeting on July 18, Markandayan, the Vilathikulam MLA, had claimed that he could not be arrested for making remarks against the chief minister because he was a sitting legislator and the Speaker's approval was required before police could arrest him.

Responding to the claim, Prabhakar told reporters that the Assembly rules only restrict the service of court orders or notices within the Assembly precincts without the Speaker's prior permission.

"An order or notice from a court must not be served within...