The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain an appeal against an interim order of the Delhi High Court, staying the Election Commisison’s show cause notice issued to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the paid news case.
A Bench of Justices Ibrahim Kalifulla and Shiva Kirti Singh, while dismissing the appeal filed by the complainant Madhavrao Kinhalkar, asked the High Court to dispose off the main writ petition challenging the EC’s show cause notice within 15 days.
The Commission had issued notice to Mr. Chavan as to why he should not be disqualified for not giving a true account of his election expenses for the 2009 assembly polls. It sought a response in 20 days.
Senior counsel Jayant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, contended that the High Court had committed an error by staying the show cause notice and it had not given any reason in the order.
Justice Kalifulla, after hearing senior counsel Kapil Sibal, Mohan Parasan and Salman Khurshid, for Mr. Chavan, told the counsel, “It is a question of interpretation of the election rules on filing of accounts for election expenses. When the main petition is pending we can’t interpret the rules. We will ask the High Court to dispose of the petition in 15 days.” The Bench then dismissed the appeal.
