HC asks Odisha Speaker to submit affidavit

Orissa High Court today refused to entertain an affidavit filed by state Legislative Assembly secretary on behalf of the Speaker, Pradeep Kumar Amat, in a contempt case.
The High Court directed the Speaker to submit affidavit personally before May 3 in response to the contempt petition filed against him by the state president of NCP Utkal Ranjan Parida.
A Division Bench of justices Indrajit Mohanti and Biswanath Mohapatra on April 15 had directed the Speaker to file his counter affidavit within seven days. However, instead of the Speaker, the OLA secretary made the affidavit, which was out rightly rejected by the Bench observing that the Speaker should have made the affidavit as the contempt petition has made the Speaker as the respondent.

Parida in March this year had filed the petition alleging that the Speaker was "deliberately" and "willfully" disobeying the orders passed by a division bench of Orissa High Court and a three-member bench of the Supreme Court.
The NCP leader had sought disqualification of all four NCP MLAs, who had voluntarily given up their memberships from the party and had joined the ruling BJD in the State in June last year.
While the High Court on September 23, 2012 had asked the Speaker to dispose of the application of Parida within eight weeks, the Supreme Court too had asked the Speaker to dispose of the same by January 7, 2013.

But the Speaker has not taken steps to implement the orders of both the Courts, the petition had alleged.