By Sanjay Pahwa,Chandigarh: Mr. Ravinder Pal Singh Palli, Mayor of Chandigarh did not turn up in the court of Deputy Commissioner Chandigarh today for his cross-examination as his own witness in the Election Petition which has been filed by Sh. Jagjit Singh Kang, challenging the validity of the election of Mr. Palli as Mayor of Municipal Corporation Chandigarh. The court fixed 29 June, 2011 as the next date for his appearance and his cross-examination by the other side.
It may be mentioned here that Mr. J.S. Kang has challenged the election of Mr. Palli as Mayor on the ground that at the time of polling Mr. P.K. Bansal, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister in violation of the ruling of the presiding officer, asked the Congress (I) councilors to take their mobile phones with them at the time of casting their vote, click the photo of the ballot paper after casting it in favour of the congress and later show it to him, which violated the principal of secrecy.As soon as the case came up for hearing today, Mr. Jagjit Singh Kang was present with his lawyers Senior Advocate Sh. Satya Pal Jain, Sh. Dheeraj Jain & Sh. Davesh Moudgil, Advocates for the cross-examination of Sh. Palli, but, neither Mr. Palli nor his counsel came present. However, an application was moved by Sh. Kashmira Singh, Advocate on behalf of Mrs. Anu Chatrath, Advocate seeking adjournment of the case on the ground that her mother-in-law was not well and that, because of this, she could not inform Mr. Palli about today’s date.
Opposing the same, Mr. Satya Pal Jain, Senior Advocate said that in case the lawyer could not come because of the illness of her mother-in-law, there is no reason as to why the Mayor did not come. He said that his absence shows the respect that he has for the court. He also pointed out that on June 2, 2011 the court had directed Mr. Palli to file the affidavit of his other witness Mr. Pardeep Chhabra before the next date of hearing but even that has also not been done. He said that it seems that the respondent wants to prolong the case, as much as he can, by adopting delaying tactics.
After hearing both the parties, the court directed the respondent to come present in the court on 29 June, 2011 at 11:00 AM for his cross-examination by the counsel for the petitioner and also directed him to file the affidavit of Sh. Pardeep Chhabra before the next date of hearing by giving an advance copy of the same to the petitioner’s counsel.