Orissa High Court slaps Rs 10,000 fine on Congress MLA

Highlights

• Petitions filed against Sundargarh MLA Jogesh Kumar Singh for furnishing false caste certificate.
• High Court fined him Rs 10,000 for delaying court proceedings.

Cuttack (Odisha): Orissa High Court has penalized Sundargarh MLA Jogesh Kumar Singh of Rs 10,000 for delaying the proceedings of the court.

Hearing two separate petitions challenging the 2014 election results, the High Court had scheduled a date for recording the statements of the Congress lawmaker. However, Singh failed to depose on the scheduled date and sought more time.

Justice BK Nayak slapped Rs 5,000 penalty on him for each of the petitions.

Sources said BJP candidate Sahadev Xaxa, who lost to Singh in the 2014 assembly elections, and another voter Ajay Patel had filed two separate petitions in the court alleging massive irregularities in the elections.

The petitioners claimed that Singh had furnished false caste certificate while contesting the election and requested the court to declare the election results void.

On the other hand, Singh had filed a miscellaneous petition and requested the HC to quash the petition against him. The HC in its October 28 hearing had rejected Singh’s petition. However, Singh had filed another review petition in the Supreme Court challenging the HC ruling. The apex court had upheld the HC ruling and rejected Singh’s plea.