SC Urges HC To Dispose Of Odisha MLA Md Moquim’s Plea In 6 Months

NewDelhi/ Cuttack: The Supreme Court has requested the Orissa High Court to dispose of pending criminal appeal, in which the latter had issued an interim stay order on the conviction of Congress MLA from Barabati-Cuttack, Mohammed Moquim in a loan scam, within six months.

The Special Vigilance Court, Bhubaneswar, had sentenced Moquim to three years imprisonment after convicting him, in connection with the loan scam on September 29. A single judge Bench of Justice BP Routray issued an interim stay order on it on October 19, 2022, describing it as “an exceptional case” and allowed him to continue as member of the state assembly, after Moquim challenged the propriety of the trial court’s order on the ground it was incurably defective and suffered from gross infirmities.

The state Vigilance, in a special leave petition, later sought the intervention of the apex court against the interim stay order. A division bench of Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh disposed of the SLP on Friday saying, “On taking note of the nature of the impugned order, at this stage, we see no reason to interfere since in any event, in a matter of the present nature, a final decision at the earliest is called for by the high court. In that view, we request the high court to consider and dispose of the appeal pending before it as expeditiously as possible but in all eventuality within a period of six months from this day”.

While hearing a PIL, seeking intervention for expeditious disposal of the criminal appeal, the HC bench of Chief Justice Subhasis Talapatra and Justice Savitri Ratho had last month informed that a special bench has been constituted for hearing special categories of matters relating to politicians and hoped that he matter will be ready for disposal within six months.