PANJIM: The cabinet has resolved to pardon imprisoned Nuvem MLA Francisco (Mickky) Pacheco, who is serving a six-month sentence for slapping a government servant in 2006.
“Yes the cabinet has approved it. I am of the view that his constituency has every right to have their MLA in the assembly. I am in favour of that,” Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told Herald.
The approval came through circulation of a file. Sources said all the ministers approved the resolution.
“The file was passed through circulation and sent to Governor Mridula Sinha for her approval on Thursday morning. The file will be sent back to the Home department after getting the Governor’s signature,” sources in the cabinet said. Sinha is currently out of station.
The cabinet approval was granted on Wednesday afternoon, during the Assembly session’s lunch break. Earlier this month, the Nuvem MLA had applied for parole so as to participate in the ongoing Assembly session. He had also moved a mercy petition before the Governor, who had sought the government’s view on the mercy petition.
Pacheco was sentenced for six months by Goa court for slapping a junior engineer in 2006. After being convicted, Pacheco remained absconding before surrendering to the Court on June 1, 2015. The former minister has already spent two months in Sada sub jail.
Meanwhile, social activist Aires Rodrigues urged Sinha not to agree to the “very high-handed move by the Goa Government to grant pardon to Goa’s convicted former Rural Development Minister Pacheco under Article 161 of the Constitution of India”.
In a letter to Sinha, Rodrigues has alleged that in a clear abuse of power, Pacheco being a political heavy weight, the government was clearly conniving and colluding with him to derail the due process of law and making a mockery of the judicial system by trying to give Pacheco the benefit of pardon under Article 161 of the Constitution.
