CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on a petitioner for “creating unnecessary litigation” and involving Kusum Tete, MLA Sundargarh. Jagadeep Pratap Deo, a resident of Sundargarh Assembly constituency, had first filed a complaint before the Governor to disqualify Kusum Tete from the post of MLA as she was holding office of profit when she filed her nomination papers for the elections in 2019.
Deo had alleged that she was holding the office of chairperson Special Development Council for Sundargarh when she filed her nomination papers to contest in the elections in 2019. When the Governor rejected his complaint, he had challenged it in the high court. Justice Rath dismissed Deo’s petition on Wednesday saying that the complaint before the Governor was not maintainable as Kusum was not holding any post while filing nomination to contest the Assembly election.
“However, this court since here finds, there has been creation of unnecessary litigation and forcing Kusum Tete to fight such illegal litigation and landing in litigation expenses, this court imposes the litigation cost to a sum of Rs 15,000 to be paid by the petitioner to her within a period of two weeks,” Justice Rath ordered.Kusum of the BJP was elected from the Sundargarh Assembly constituency after defeating her nearest rival Yogesh Kumar Singh of BJD by a margin of 7,364 votes.