BJP MLA tried to contact me: High Court judge recuses himself from hearing a case

Bhopal: A Madhya Pradesh High Court judge recently refused to ‘entertain’ a Writ petition revealing that a BJP MLA attempted to contact him for a discussion on the matter.

Justice Vishal Mishra said that Vijayraghavgarh MLA Sanjay Pathak had tried to reach out to him on the phone, The Indian Express reported.

‘Mr Sanjay Pathak has made an attempt to call me to have a discussion regarding this particular matter. Therefore, I am not inclined to entertain this Writ petition,’ Justice Mishra was quoted as saying.

Rescuing himself from hearing the case, the judge directed that the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of the High Court for listing.

‘Let the matter be placed before the Hon’ble Chief Justice for listing the matter before the appropriate Bench for consideration,’ the court said.

The case according to the report is about a Writ petition in the High Court that sought action against those accused of illegal mining.

A man named Ashutosh Dixit, who had approached the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) raising allegations, moved the High Court in January accusing EOW of inaction alongside arguing that the EOW failed to finish a preliminary probe in the given period.

He alleged that the companies linked to Pathak and his family carried out excessive mining of iron ore and other minerals.

Pathak was the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in 2016.