The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Lok Sabha secretary general on the plea filed by Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra, challenging her expulsion from the Lower House, but did not allow her the immediate interim relief of participating in the House sessions.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta declined to issue any interim order on Moitra’s request to attend the House proceedings, stating that granting such relief would be akin to allowing the main petition.
The Supreme Court also declined to issue notices to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and the Lok Sabha Committee on Ethics, both parties named in Moitra’s plea, opting to seek a response solely from the Lok Sabha secretary general.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Lok Sabha secretary general, urged the court not to issue a formal notice, assuring that a reply to Moitra’s petition would be filed. Mehta argued against the court delving into the internal disciplinary matters of the sovereign organ of the state. The court accepted this request, listing the matter for further hearing in the week beginning March 11.
On December 8, after a heated Lok Sabha debate over the panel report, during which Moitra was denied the opportunity to speak, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion to expel the TMC MP from the House for “unethical conduct.” This motion was adopted by a voice vote. The ethics committee found Moitra guilty of “unethical conduct” and contempt of the House for sharing her Lok Sabha members’ portal credentials with unauthorized individuals, impacting national security irrepressibly, as stated by Joshi.
The committee recommended initiating an intense legal and institutional inquiry by the government, with a set deadline, considering Moitra’s “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous, and criminal conduct.” The motion by Joshi emphasized Moitra’s conduct as unbecoming of an MP, citing her acceptance of gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interests as a serious misdemeanour and highly deplorable conduct.
Ethics committee Chairman Vinod Kumar Sonkar had previously presented the panel’s first report on a complaint filed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey against Moitra. In October, Dubey, based on a complaint by Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, alleged that Moitra had solicited cash and gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for raising questions in the Lok Sabha to criticize industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In an affidavit to the ethics committee on October 19, Hiranandani claimed that Moitra had provided him with her login ID and password for the Lok Sabha members’ website. The Central Bureau of Investigation has already filed a preliminary FIR in the case.
