Orissa High Court dismisses deputy CM’s IA seeking restraint on media reporting of his election case
Bhubaneswar, Aug 1 (UNI) The Orissa High Court has rejected BJP MLA and deputy chief minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo’s interlocutory application (IA) seeking Court’s intervention to impose restraint on media reporting of the election petition filed by former BJD MLA Saroj Kumar Meher challenging Singh Deo’s election victory in 2024 Assembly polls.
The High Court had earlier issued the notice to Singh Deo after admitting the election petition filed by Meher.
BJD candidate Meher lost the seat to Singh Deo by a narrow margin of 1,357 votes in the 2024 Assembly elections.
“When, the law authorizes/empowers to the citizens for reporting the Court proceedings of the judicial institutions to bring the same to the knowledge of the public, because, the trial should be open to the public and there should be no restraint to the publication of the report of the Court proceedings for generating public confidence in the administration of justice without causing any prejudice to the proper administration of justice and without affecting the fairness of the trial, then at this juncture, by applying the principles of law,” Justice Ananda Chandra Behera stated in an order on Thursday while dismissing the IA.
The petitioner (Singh Deo) in this I.A is not entitled under law to injunct the Opposite Party (Meher) from giving any statement relating to the orders passed in Election Petition correctly with its exact wordings for publication of the Court proceedings, then at this juncture, there is no justification under law to allow this I.A. filed by the petitioner, Justice Behera ruled.
