Mysteries in Justice Indrajit Mahanty's proxy-press-release
Cuttack, 2nd
September 2016: Justice Indrajit Mahanty became a judge of Orissa
High Court in 2006,
and he became a hotelier in 2009. Activist Jayanta Das broke
the story on 8th August with documentary evidence
given by judiciary whistleblowers. Kamyab TV, an Oriya TV channel,
held a panel
debate on this
issue. In our press
release issued three days ago, we asked whether it was ethical
for any high court judge to be a businessman.
Justice I. Mahanty
maintained a stony silence but on his behalf, the management of his
hotel, The Triple C, issued a denial
in The Indian Express on the same day as our press release. The
Triple C Hotel's press statement contradicts the signed affidavit of
Justice I. Mahanty himself, and it actually makes this high court
judge's actions look totally mysterious!
MYSTERY
#1. The Indian Express story says,
"A spokesperson of Latest Generation Entertainment Pvt
Limited (LGPL), which entered into a 15-year pact with Justice
Indrajit Mohanty, clarified that lease/rent agreement for “Triple
C” was signed in August, 2007. Chartered Accountant of LGPL R
Sharma said possession of the property was handed over to the company
in 2009 and it has been running the hotel ever since. LGPL has been
paying lease rental for the premises after accounting for the income
tax." And later on, it says, "Besides, the accusations that
working capital had been availed for running hotel were found to be
untrue as neither LGPL nor Justice Mohanty had taken any. Instead, a
term loan was secured in 2007 for construction of the building.
Application for an additional term loan was made in 2009 which was
approved later in the year by State Bank of India."
But
this begs the question: Why is Justice Indrajit Mahanty servicing a
working capital loan of Rs 2.5 cr from State Bank of India, which he
took in his own name in February 2009? Read SBI's
loan sanction letter issued on 16th Feb 2009 in the
name of Justice Indrajit Mahanty himself (and not in the name of
Latest Generation Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.) See
below image:
Also,
why is Justice I. Mahanty (and not the hotel management company)
withdrawing and repaying lakhs of rupees every month? Read
the bank
statements showing drawals and repayments as recent as May 2015.
See below image:
If not from The Triple C
Hotel, from what source of income does Justice Indrajit Mahanty pay
amounts like Rs 2 lakh every month? And if not for working capital of
the hotel, for what purpose does Justice I. Mahanty withdraw lakhs of
rupees every month? Will his lordship kindly clarify this?
MYSTERY
#2: The Indian Express story says:
"Contrary to the allegations that Justice Mohanty got
record of rights of the land in 2006, available documents revealed
that the land on which the hotel is located was purchased on October
16, 1981 by Barrister Ranjit Mohanty for his son, Justice Mohanty."
In
that case, did Justice Indrajit Mahanty tell a lie in his affidavit?
Why did he state,
"That I have obtained a
plot of land by way of Court Decree from the Court of the Subordinate
Judge, first Court, Cuttack, in Title Suit no. 297 of 1981" Why
didn't he mention anything about purchase of land by his father
Barrister Ranjit Mahanty?
See
below image:
The Indian Express story concludes by saying:
"Sharma said the attacks on the hotel are not only
baseless but also motivated and have adversely affected its
functioning."
Mr Sharma, do you
really imagine that any of this is about the hotel? Oh come on, get real! It's not about The Triple C Hotel, and no, it's not about one over-privileged person named Indrajit Mahanty either. This is about the judiciary and its functioning, and the fundamental right
of 1.3 billion citizens of India to be served by judges who are genuinely impartial and
unbiased.
ISSUED IN PUBLIC INTEREST
BY
Krishnaraj Rao
Krishnaraj Rao
9821588114
krish.kkphoto@gmail.com
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