Alagiri told to pay Rs 5,000 fine

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday asked Union Minister M K Alagiri to cough up Rs 5,000 for filing a petition seeking to reject an election related plea from CPM State executive committee member A Lazar. In his petition, Lazar had challenging Alagiri’s election from the Madurai Parliamentary Constituency in the 2009 Lok Sabha election.Alagiri sought to strike out certain paragraphs in the Lazar’s petition and consequently reject it. He contended that the petition did not disclose the cause of action. He alleged that no material particulars of corrupt practices had been given.  Lazar, however, submitted that the entire material facts and full particulars had been mentioned in the election petition.Taking note of this, Justice V Dhanapalan dismissed Alagiri’s petition and posted the matter to Dec 7.Lazar’s counsel N C Ashok Kumar contended that Alagiri was delaying the proceedings for nearly one-and-a-half years by filing several petitions. “Citing a Supreme Court order that imposed Rs 25,000 on the petitioner who  filed an application without substance in an election related case, Justice Dhanapalan asked Alagiri to pay Rs 5,000,” Kumar said.Originally, P Mohan, the defeated CPM candidate, had filed a petition challenging the election of Alagiri.  While it was pending, he died on October 31, 2009. Following a paper publication about the factum of his demise, Lazar filed an application to substitute himself as petitioner in the place of Mohan. Dhanapalan on September 6 last permitted Lazar to substitute himself as the petitioner.