India plays down US court's summons against Kamal Nath

Playing down the issue of a US court summoning urban development minister Kamal Nath, India today said it was an old matter and maintained that a cabinet minister, if travelling officially, had diplomatic immunity.

There is nothing new in these reports and this an "old issue", government sources said here, adding that there was a global understanding that people holding high positions such as union ministers in government enjoy certain kind of diplomatic immunity in foreign countries.

Earlier, the US state department in Washington said it has made "no determination" on the question of diplomatic immunity for the minister against the backdrop of the summons issued against him by a US court on a lawsuit alleging his involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The state department here said that the US is looking forward to working with Kamal Nath in his new capacity as the urban development minister.

"The immunity question remains under review by the state department. We have not not made any determination on this point," a state department official told PTI in response to media reports that it has denied "diplomatic immunity" request from India.