The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed Goa Chief Secretary to file an affidavit specifying the health status of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday.
The direction by Justice R.M. Borde follows a petition by former chief spokesperson of Goa Forward party Trajano D’Mello, who had sought to know Mr. Parrikar’s health status.
Mr. Parrikar is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and has not attended any official meeting or function outside his private residence for over a month now. He has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, U.S. and Delhi for nearly nine months.
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Mr. D’Mello in his petition filed earlier this month, sought that the Court direct State Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma to evaluate the former Defence Minister’s health with the help of a panel of expert doctors and release the medical report publicly.
After Mr. Parrikar returned from New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14 and was directly taken to his private residence in an ambulance. He has not moved out for any official event since.
The Opposition has been demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister while some coalition allies have demanded that he hand over charge to a senior minister, claiming that the administration has come to a standstill due to his prolonged absence.
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There has been no health bulletin forthcoming from the government, barring several informal intimations to the media from the Chief Minister’s Office, which played down his sickness. The Congress is about to start a statewide campaign called “Janakrosh” protesting this.