IMPHAL, April 3: The hearing of a petition lodged against parliamentary secretary, YAS and Tourism, M Prithiviraj, challenging his appointment as MLA has been deferred on April 7 by the High Court of Manipur today.
The case was heard in the court of justice, N Kotishwar, of the Manipur High Court.
It has been reported that during the hearing the counsel of the petitioner, Sr Advocate Ng Kumarjit, furnished a supreme court ruling ‘for charges framed against sitting MPs/MLAs, the trials must be expedited so that they are conducted on a day-to-day basis and concluded within a one year period. If trial is not concluded within a one year period then one of the following consequences ought to ensure: The MP/MLA may be disqualified at the expiry of the one year period, or The MP/MLA`s right to vote in the House as a member, remuneration and other perquisites attaching to their office shall be suspended at the expiry of the one year period.
However with the respondent’s counsel seeking more time, the hearing was further deferred till March 7.
The first hearing was held on February last wherein it was deferred following an argument put up by the counsel of the respondent to included the “ECI and the RO” in the respondent category.
It may be recalled that Pukhrem Saratchandra Singh, a candidate during the 10th Manipur legislative Assembly Election 2012, lodged a petition against Moirangthem Privitraj in April 2012, with the then Guwahati High court.
The same complaint was also forwarded to the Election Commission of India.
Subsequently, the Election Commission of India (ECI) as per the People’s Representative Act, 1951, intimated the Joint CEO Manipur, to take up disqualification proceedings against MLA.
A complaint to the ECI says that the MBA qualification mentioned in the affidavit is not correct, inquiries with the Registrar of Mysore University informed that the sitting MLA of Moirang was not a student of MBA in 2003 and 2004.
