Guwahati, (Samajweekly) The Gauhati High Court has dismissed the petition filed by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with a defamation suit lodged against him by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, an official said on Monday.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader had approached the High Court for quashing the proceedings of the defamation case which is pending for disposal before a lower court in Guwahati.
Assam Advocate General Debojit Saikia on Monday said that following the High Court order, Sisodia will have to appear in person before the lower court on November 19 according to the summons issued earlier.
Sisodia had alleged that Sarma awarded a contract of PPE kits to a company linked to his wife and grossly overpaid for the same during the first wave of the Covid pandemic in March 2020.
On June 4, he said: “Himanta Biswa Sarma awarded the contract to his wife’s company. He paid Rs 990 for the PPE kits while others were purchased at Rs 600 per piece from another company on the same day. This is a huge crime.”
Sisodia at that time also claimed he had the documents to prove so.
In reply to these allegations, Assam CM Sarma lodged a defamation case against Sisodia at the Chief Judicial Magistrate court at Kamrup (M) district in Guwahati.
The lower court had summoned Sisodia to appear in person while Delhi Deputy Chief Minister approached the Gauhati High Court against the summon.
Advocate General Saikia said that after three days of hearing, the High Court could not find merit in Sisodia’s petition.
The order reads that “the Court is of the considered opinion that the petitioner (Sisodia) has not been able to make out any case for quashing of the proceedings the case (the one filed against him) which is pending for disposal before CJM court, Kamrup (M) at Guwahati. Thus, this petition fails and the same is dismissed”.
