"Fake News": Orissa High Court refutes allegation of closed door meeting between Chief Justice S Muralidhar and CM's Private Secretary

The Orissa High Court has refuted allegations that Chief Justice Dr. S Muralidhar had a closed door meeting with the private secretary of Chief Minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik..In a press release, the High Court condemned the allegation as fake news, terming it an unfortunate, deliberate and sinister attempt to malign the image of the Chief Justice. "It is extremely unfortunate that a sinister attempt has been made to deliberately malign not only the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court but the institution of the judiciary as a whole," the press release said.A lawyer practicing before the High Court had posted on his social media handle a photograph in which the Chief Justice Muralidhar was seen interacting with Manoj Bhimani, the managing trustee of Sri Sathya Sai Heart Hospital, three other doctors of the hospital and VK Pandian, the private secretary to the CM.The lawyer captioned the picture as "closed door meeting", which was also shared by a few media houses making it viral..The press release clarified that the occasion was the inauguration of a 3-day free Mega Heart Camp conducted by the Sathya Sai Heart Hospital, an event for which Supreme Court Justice MR Shah was the chief guest and Chief Justice Muralidhar was the guest of honour. The photograph was taken when the guests were waiting for the arrival of Justice MR Shah from Puri, the press release stated..This was therefore not at all a 'closed door meeting' or a 'private meeting' between the Chief Justice and others as it has been projected, stated the registry in the press release."In fact it was not a meeting at all. It was a public function by a charitable organization providing free treatment to thousands of poor children of Odisha suffering from heart ailments. A copy of the invitation card is enclosed," the press release said. .The Court also took objection to a few media houses for carrying the news item without verifying the above facts. "These facts could have easily been got verified both from the organization which conducted the programme and also from the Registrar General of the High Court before publication of such news item," stated the press release..[Read Press Release]