CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has ordered a probe by handwriting experts of the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) in Bhubaneswar into a false Vakalatnama case that surfaced when a PIL was taken up for hearing on Wednesday.
One Sukanta Kumar Nayak filed an affidavit stating that his name has been shown as petitioner no.1 in the PIL, but he has not filed the petition, and the three other persons named as petitioners were strangers to him. His name be deleted from the petition, Nayak pleaded in the affidavit filed on March 4, 2025.
As apparent from the petition, Sukanta Kumar Nayak, Champa Munda, Saluram Badara and Lalit Samanta, all residents of Sukinda block in Jajpur district had filed the PIL through advocate Saroj Kumar Dash.
The petition was regarding repairing work at 132 primary schools in Sukinda on expenditure of Rs 47.50 lakh per school without inviting tender. The petition sought the court’s intervention for conducting tender for the work instead of departmental execution to maintain transparency and proper utilisation of the DMF funds in the interest of justice.
Taking on record the affidavit, the division bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice SK Sahoo observed, “On the basis of such affidavit, it prima facie reveals that the signature of petitioner no.1 Sukanta Nayak appearing in the Vakalatnama attached to the writ petition is a disputed one.”
“Therefore, this court thinks it proper to obtain a report from the handwriting expert of the SFSL, Rasulgarh in Bhubaneswar as to whether the signature of Sukanta Nayak in the Vakalatnama filed with the writ petition and signatures of Sukanta Kumar Nayak appearing in the affidavit filed on dated 04.03.2025 and Vakalatnama filed with the affidavit are of the same person or not,” the bench said.
The report be produced befor the state counsel on the next date on April 16, the bench specified.