Delhi HC to hear Mahua Moitra's plea against vacating residence after SC order on expulsion

Delhi Hc to hear Moitra's plea on January 4

The Delhi High Court has deferred the hearing in a plea by expelled Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra against cancellation of her government accommodation because it wanted to wait for the Supreme Court order on another lawsuit challenging her ouster on January 3.

Moitra moved the high court on being asked to vacate her accommodation by January 7. At the hearing on December 19, the court was informed by the government that Moitra has also challenged her expulsion form the Lok Sabha at the Supreme Court and this was coming up for hearing on January 3. The government requested the case to be deferred to a date after the SC hearing is over.

Senior advocate Pinaki Mishra, who appeared for Moitra, told the court that they were only asking the government to permit her to stay in the accommodation till May 31.  The court, however, deferred the hearing of the case to January 4.

Moitra's petition filed in the high court urged that the Directorate of Estates' December 11 order be set aside or, in the alternative, she be allowed to retain possession of the accommodation till the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are declared.

Moitra was expelled on December 8 from the Lok Sabha after the House adopted the report of its Ethics Committee that held her guilty of "unethical conduct" for allegedly accepting gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani and sharing her user ID and password of the Parliament website with him.

She alleged that a parliamentary panel was being weaponised by the government to force the opposition into submission. She told reporters that she has been found guilty of breaching a code of ethics that does not exist and that there was no evidence of cash or gifts given to her.

Moitra found herself in trouble when on October 15, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, saying an inquiry committee should look into accusations made against the Trinamool Congress leader by Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehradai.