Jabalpur: The fate of Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra continues to hang in balance with the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday deferring the hearing of paid news case against him.
The court ruled that case needed to be first heard by the Supreme Court before it could proceed as there is a petition pending there.
Mishra is the state parliamentary affairs minister and will play a big role in the upcoming polling for the Presidential elections.
One of the petitioners in the case, Rajendra Bharti, had filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) with the SC on the issue on Friday.
Taking cognizance of the SLP, the Madhya Pradesh HC accepted Bharti’s request of transferring the case to SC and gave two weeks’ time till for next hearing so that the apex court can hear the case.
“The HC accepted out transfer petition regarding two cases filed in the paid news case and deferred hearing for two weeks saying it would look into the SC verdict, if any,” Bharti’s lawyer and the Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha told newsmen after the hearing.
Mishra’s lawyer Anil Khare declined to comment on the implications of the HC order.
Challenging Election Commission of India’s decision of setting aside his election as MLA from Datia in 2008 and banning him from contesting any election for three years, Mishra had moved Gwalior bench of HC. Later following lawyers’ strike, the case was transferred to Jabapur principal bench of the HC.
In between a scribe Surendra Dubey had also moved HC urging the court for the execution of the EC verdict as Mishra has neither been removed from the cabinet nor he relinquished his membership to assembly.
After losing assembly election to Mishra from Datia, Congress leader Rajendra Bharti had in 2008 complained to EC, accusing the former of getting paid news published during election campaign.
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