The Orissa High Court would hold its final hearing on July 27 on the recall petition filed by Ganjam district Collector in connection with the alleged poll fund irregularities by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
SC lawyer Narender Hooda arguing in favour of the complainant, Subhas Mohapatra, said o Tuesday, “The court has set July 27 for final hearing of the case.
The Collector in his petition cited that notice issued by the court to the Election Commission of India is wrong and approached the court to withdraw its order. In its short hearing today, the court has given us time to reply on the petition.
While arguing in favour of State Government, the Advocate General appealed to the court not to entertain the root petition as the petitioner does not belong to CM’s constituency.”
To a question that the root petition was considered belated as it was filed in 2016 and listed in 2017 while the election was held in 2014, Hooda said the day when a fraud was detected, the case generally begins from that day. “When a disappeared murder accused is identified five years after the crime, it doesn’t mean that action would not be initiated against him,” he said.
Meanwhile, the BJP intensified its attack on the BJD by approaching the State Election Commission to scrap the Assembly membership of the Chief Minister for allegedly misusing Government machineries over the alleged irregularities in his party’s poll fund expenditure.
The delegation which submitted a memorandum to the SEC addressed to the Election Commission of India alleged that the State Government considered the case against Hinjili MlA Naveen Patnaik as a case against the CM and used the Government machinery accordingly in the case. Demanding a three-year restriction on Patnaik from contesting poll, the BJP team also sought stern action against him after inquiry into the alleged misappropriation of funds under the Representation of the People’s Act.
On the other hand, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said, “The losers can’t bring such allegation against the Chief Minister.
The bank account in question neither belongs to the BJD nor its supremo Naveen Patnaik. It is the SBI’s own account-10091805573.”