Mahua Moitra, the expelled Member of Parliament of Trinamool Congress, withdrew her plea from the Delhi High Court challenging the order by the Government of India to evict her from her bungalow which was allotted to her officially.
Moitra was represented by Senior Advocate Pinaki Misra who said that they are likely to approach the Directorate of Estates of the Government for permitting her to stay in the bungalow till Lok Sabha elections 2024.
Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that as the petition was withdrawn, the Government shall take action in the case as per law.
It was also clarified by the court it has not made any observations on the merits of the case and the Directorate of Estates may take its own decision considering the facts.
On December 11, a letter was issued to Mahua Moitra by the government for vacating her house by January 7, 2024. The letter was issued after she was expelled from parliament on December 8.
Moitra had challenged the order arguing that the legality of her expulsion as a Member of Parliament (MP) was presently pending adjudication before the Supreme Court of India which makes the the Directorate of Estates’ notice illegal.
On December 8, the Lok Sabha passed a resolution to expel Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra from the membership of the House based on the Report of the Ethics Committee over ‘cash for query’ complaint.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had written to the Lok Sabha Speaker stating how Moitra had put forth questions in Parliament on behalf of business tycoon Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for cash and gifts.
It was also claimed that these questions were related to the Adani Group which is a competitor of Hiranandani.
The complain by Dubey finds its roots from a letter he received from Jai Dehadrai, who had filed a complaint to the CBI stating to have some irrefutable evidence that Moitra took bribes from Hiranandani.
As per the claim made by Dehadrai, Moitra gave complete access to her online Lok Sabha account to Hiranandani, who misused the same to post Parliamentary Questions of his liking. As per the claims, these questions consisted of 50 of the 61 questions that Moitra has asked.
A notice was earlier sent to Dubey, Dehadrai and several media organisations by Moitra. The expelled Trinamool MP had refuted all the allegations and said that the allegations are false and designed to curry political mileage and to extract a personal vendetta against her.