New Delhi: Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud Wednesday assured the counsel for Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra he will take a call on the request for urgent listing of her plea challenging her expulsion from the Lok Sabha even as her nemesis Nishikant Dubey, the BJP MP from Jharkhand whose complaint led to her ouster, approached the court seeking impleadment in the matter.
The TMC leader had moved the apex court on Monday against her expulsion after the Lok Sabha adopted a report by its ethics committee that held her guilty of accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interests. "Since the entire genesis of the instant petition arises from the complaint dated October 15, 2023 made by the applicant (Dubey) herein, therefore, it is just and proper and is in the interest of justice that the applicant be impleaded as a necessary party, Dubey said in the application he filed in the top court.
Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to urgently consider her plea against expulsion from the Lok Sabha in the 'cash for query' corruption case. Senior advocate A M Singhvi mentioned Moitra’s plea before a bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and requested the court to urgently fix the matter for hearing.
Justice Kaul said "Let the CJI take call... .I don’t want to take a call at this stage". Justice Kaul is scheduled to superannuate later this month. On Monday, Moitra filed the plea, terming the decision to expel her as "unjust, unfair and arbitrary" and against the principle of natural justice.
Moitra was ousted from the Parliament after the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha found her guilty of jeopardising national security by sharing her parliamentary portal's login credentials with businessman Darshan Hiranandani.
Moitra has been allegedly accused of posing several queries in Parliament concerning the Adani group of companies at the behest of a rival businessman, Darshan Hiranandani.
On December 8, the Lok Sabha passed a resolution to expel Moitra from the parliament in view of the Ethics Committee recommending her disqualification as an MP. Her expulsion was recommended by the committee on the basis of Hiranandani's affidavit saying she accepted bribes to ask his questions targeting the Adani Group.
Reacting sharply to her expulsion, Moitra had equated the action with hanging by a "kangaroo court". She alleged that a parliamentary panel was being weaponized by the government to force the opposition into submission.
Mahua had told reporters that she had been found guilty of breaching a code of ethics that does not exist and that there was no evidence of cash or gift given to her.
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