Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Mohammed Moquim, the MLA for Cuttack-Barabati, was found guilty in the loan irregularities case ten years ago, and the Supreme Court declined to postpone his conviction on Tuesday. The court did, however, suspend his sentence until the resolution of the special leave application (SPL) after hearing arguments from both parties.
Give notice. The State’s representative, standing counsel, receives the notification. Following the matter’s hearing…The Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta declared, “The petitioner’s sentence is ordered to be suspended subject to…his bail bonds after hearing the senior counsel for the parties and considering all the attending circumstances.”
Earlier this month, the legislator faced a blow when the Orissa High Court affirmed the decision of a special vigilance court that sentenced him to three years in prison for the crime, ending his chances of running for office in the subsequent elections. In the SC, he subsequently contested the order. It is still unclear, though, if he would be allowed to run in the Odisha elections.
A vigilante court found Moquim, who was the managing director of Metro Builders Pvt Ltd at the time, former IAS officer Vinod Kumar, and other individuals guilty on September 29, 2022, of securing financial benefits for the former company through loans intended for the rural poor from Odisha Rural Housing and Development Corporation Ltd (ORHDC). After the Congress legislator filed an appeal, the HC in October 2022 overturned his conviction, calling it “an exceptional case,” and he was permitted to remain a member of the state assembly. Moquim had argued that the trial court’s order was improper since it was gravely flawed and had irreversible flaws.
