The Delhi high court on Tuesday refrained from granting any immediate relief to expelled Trinamool Congress (TMC) member of Parliament (MP) Mahua Moitra who had sought quashing of the notice directing her to vacate her government accommodation by January 7.

Taking note of the pendency of her plea challenging the validity of her expulsion from Parliament before the Supreme Court, the court said that adjudicating her present petition would result in directly impinging the proceedings before the top court.

“What do I do sir? You have challenged the orders by filing the writ petition. If the SC grants a stay in your favour, your suspension will be stayed. If we adjudicate on this, will be directly impinging the SC proceedings. We will have it on January 4 after the SC opens and deals with your case,” justice Subramonium Prasad said to the counsel who appeared for the expelled MP.

On December 15, the Supreme Court had re-listed her petition for January 3, after justice Sanjiv Khanna, the presiding judge on the bench, said he did not get the time to go through the file after having received it only in the morning. The court thus listed her plea challenging Directorate of Estate, Government of India’s December 11 notice for January 4.

The TMC MP from Krishnanagar was expelled on December 8 over cash-for-query charges. She alleged “substantial illegality” and “arbitrariness” by the House’s ethics committee, which recommended the action against her. Moitra, a first-time member who rose to prominence with her combative speeches in the House, was expelled over her “direct involvement” in cash-for-query charges and “unethical” conduct. The Lok Sabha expelled the TMC legislator with a voice vote amid a walkout by Opposition members, adopting an ethics committee report that recommended her expulsion for sharing her login credentials and password with an unauthorised person, its impact on national security, and accepting gifts and possibly cash as “quid pro quo” from businessman Darshan Hiranandani.

In her plea in the high court, Moitra said that the order which has been issued following her expulsion on the basis of Lok Sabha Ethics Committee’s recommendation is premature as the challenge to the validity of her expulsion is pending before the Supreme Court.

Urging the court to allow her to reside in her current house till declaration of 2024 general elections results, Moitra said that since her expulsion does not disqualify her, she would be running again for the elected office and any instability in her accommodation would pose a significant impediment to her ability to host and engage with party members.

“In such circumstances — where whether the Petitioner is an ‘unauthorised occupant’ at all is under adjudication before the highest constitutional court of the land — the Respondent No. 1, as an executing authority, cannot initiate proceedings under the PP Act 1971 for evicting the Petitioner. It is only once the Petitioner’s claim over rightfully occupying the government accommodation is duly adjudicated, does the question of the Estate Office/Respondent No. 1’s jurisdiction arise,” said her plea.