A dispute erupted after an Orissa High Court Advocate published a photo of Chief Justice S Muralidhar holding a “closed-door meeting” with IAS V K Pandian, the Private Secretary to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik along with some other people. However, Odisha Hight has issued a statement refuting the claims made by the lawyer Srinivas Mohanty calling it fake news.
Srinivas Mohanty, a lawyer, posted a photo on Facebook alleging that Chief Justice S Muralidhar had a ‘closed door meeting’ with CM Naveen Patnaik’s private secretary, IAS VK Pandian, and a few other people, in violation of official protocol. Advocate Mohanty wrote in the caption of the now-deleted Facebook post, “Chief Justice of Orissa High Court being one of the participants of a closed-door meeting regardless of the decorum of the state’s judicial head.”
In the wake of the said claim doing rounds on social media and otherwise, the High Court has issued an official press release saying that it is fake news.
“It is extremely unfortunate that an item of fake news has been made viral on social media at the instance of a lawyer practising in Orissa High Court by publishing a photograph and making a wholly scurrilous and false statement without knowing the real facts,” the High Court Registry read.
According to the press release, the photograph was taken on March 12, 2022, at the Satya Sai Seba Organisation in Bhubaneswar, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Sathya Sai Heart Hospital’s three-day Free Mega Heart Camp. Supreme Court Justice MR Shah was invited as the function’s Chief Guest. On the other hand, Chief Justice S Muralidhar was invited as the Guest of Honour. IAS VK Pandian was also invited to attend the event. Manoj Bhimani, the Managing Trustee of Sri Sathya Sai Heart Hospital, is seen seated at the head of the table in the photo. Besides VK Pandian, the other individuals are three doctors from the aforementioned heart hospital.
The statement said that the photograph was taken when the guests were waiting for the arrival of Justice MR Shah from Puri. Therefore, it was not a ‘closed door meeting’ or a ‘private meeting’ between the Chief Justice and the IAS officer. The statement added that it was not even a meeting, and the guests were just waiting for the start of a public function by a charitable organisation providing free treatment to thousands of poor children in Odisha suffering from heart ailments.
“It is extremely unfortunate that a sinister attempt has been made to deliberately malign not only the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court but the institution of the judiciary as a whole. Further, certain section of the media has unfortunately carried the news item making negative comments without verifying the above facts,” the statement added. The Registry also added that these facts could have been easily verified from the organiser of the programme and also from the Registrar General of the High Court, before the publication of such a news item.
The Registry also published the official invitation card for the Satya Sai Seba Organisation’s March 12 event.
Justice Muralidhar has previously been involved in controversies. In February 2020, he was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, despite strong opposition from the Delhi Bar. The transfer was notified shortly after he directed the Delhi police to decide on if an FIR needs to be registered for alleged provocative speeches against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra, Pravesh Verma, and one Abhay Verma in relation to the 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots.
Back then, the Congress party attacked the government over the issue, claiming that the government wanted to remove Justice Muralidhar from the Delhi riots case in order to protect BJP leaders accused in the case. OpIndia had reported on the false claims made by the Congress party and supported by the left-liberal ecosystem, but the truth was that the Union Government did not transfer Justice Muralidhar overnight. The Supreme Collegium recommended his transfer on February 12, and the law ministry simply issued the notification in accordance with the collegium’s decision.
