Cuttack: Odisha high court judge Justice R K Pattanaik on Tuesday recused himself from hearing petitions filed by BJD chief whip Pramila Mallik challenging Odisha assembly Speaker’s decision to reject pleas seeking disqualification of eight party MLAs over alleged cross-voting in the March Rajya Sabha election.Justice Pattanaik gave no reason for his decision. Directing the registrar to place the matters before another bench, he said, “I recuse myself from hearing of the matters, hence, the registrar is requested to list the same before any other Bench with the orders of the Chief Justice any time next week.”The recusal came after submissions were advanced in five of the eight petitions concerning suspended BJD MLAs Arvind Mohapatra, Souvic Biswal, Sanatan Mahakud, Chakramani Kanhar and Subasini Jena.Advocate-general Pitambar Acharya, appearing for the state, questioned the maintainability of the petitions. Senior advocate Milan Kanungo, assisted by advocate Asish Mishra, appearing for Mallik, submitted that the Speaker ought to have allowed the petitioners an opportunity to rectify procedural defects instead of rejecting the disqualification pleas outright.Kanungo contended that rejection of the petitions on technical grounds without examining the allegations would defeat the objective of the anti-defection law.The matter had earlier been listed for Tuesday for “further hearing and orders”. Justice Pattanaik had also directed the Speaker, secretary of Odisha legislative assembly and the MLAs concerned to file their counter affidavits.With the judge’s recusal, the petitions would now be placed before another bench after orders from Chief Justice, with Registry directed to list them next week.The litigation arose from BJD’s challenge to the Speaker’s June 19 notification rejecting its petitions against eight MLAs. The Speaker had termed the petitions “cryptic, vague, unsubstantiated” and held that they did not fulfil the statutory requirements for consideration on merits.The Speaker rejected the petitions under Rule 7(2) of the Members of Odisha Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1987.BJD had alleged that the eight MLAs violated the party line during the Rajya Sabha election and sought their disqualification under the anti-defection law.The election saw BJP-backed candidate Dilip Ray defeat Independent candidate and urologist Dr Datteswar Hota, who was supported by BJD and Congress.
