UT Adviser Manoj Parida and senior advocate Pankaj Chandgothia had a war of words on Twitter after a bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court’s Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha and Justice Arun Palli on Friday directed the Chandigarh Administration to resolve the conflict arising out of the unreasonable relaxations given in curfew.
It is notable that the Chandigarh administration on May 3 issued instructions announcing wide spread relaxations in the curfew. Advocate Pankaj Chandgothia then filed a petition in the High Court, accusing the administration of giving unreasonable relaxations in the curfew, ignoring the instructions of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The High Court heard the petition on Friday via video conferencing and verbally scolding the administration said that the relaxations surpassed even that given in the green zone. To this the administration replied that the decision was taken after due deliberation. The High Court finally directed the administration to iron out all the differences by conducting a meeting with the MHA officers on May 17.
It was in the context of this order that both Parida and Chandgothia had a war of words on Twitter
On Friday after the court hearing, Parida twitted late at night that High Court has refused the petitioner’s prayer to set aside the administration order and has advised for discussion with MHA.
Honourable High Court refuses petitioner’s prayer to set aside Administration order,advises discussion with MHA ,which will happen tomorrow.☺️
— Manoj Parida (@manuparida1) May 15, 2020
In reply, Chandgothia tweeted that he has not found anything related to refusal of petitioner’s prayer in the court’s directions. He then asked Parida to discuss the bench’s observations with his learned standing council.
Sir… the ADVISE OF HON’BLE HIGH COURT…means a lot… .. and sir..I could not find any word as “refusal of petitioners’ prayer”… Pls have a relook and discuss the observations of the Bench, with your learned standing counsel. Regards. pic.twitter.com/kuhmJvRsVu https://t.co/O7XzZJ8ABB
— Pankaj Chandgothia (@PeeCee1969) May 15, 2020
On Saturday, Parida again tweeted, “Expect good news tonight, awaiting Govt of India orders on easing out lockdown.”
Expect good news tonight ,awaiting Govt of India orders on easing out lockdown.😊
— Manoj Parida (@manuparida1) May 16, 2020
To this, Chandgothia replied, “Sir… What happened in the meeting…”
Again, Parida replied asking Chandgothia why he is using the means of Twitter to talk instead of asking through court cases.
How come sir ,you chat directly not through court cases?😊
— Manoj Parida (@manuparida1) May 16, 2020
Chandgothia then tweets that it was Parida who first mentioned him in one of his tweets (referring to the first tweet that started the spar). He then politely reminded Parida that they were not enemies and both have one common aim that is the compliance of the orders of MHA.
Ending their word war on a positive note, both Parida and Chandgothia tweeted and agreed that their precious time should be spent on fighting the corona epidemic with the support of MHA instead of engaging in matters of litigation.
Meanwhile, a video conferencing meeting was held between UT and MHA officials on Saturday in which the curfew relaxations were thoroughly examined, and MHA found no fault in UT’s orders.
