TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Chief Minister Laximikant Parsekar, on Wednesday, conceded that it was an embarrassment to have a convicted felon in his cabinet and said he would honour and respect the decision of the Supreme Court on issue of the conviction of his minister, Francisco (Mickky) Pacheco for assaulting a government employee.
Two days after Pacheco’s conviction in an assault case was upheld by the Supreme Court, Parsekar said, “Mickky Pacheco telephonically spoke to me and asked me to wait till he personally speaks to me. He said that he would speak to me and after that he would follow whatever directions I gave. So I have waited for Mickky,” the chief minister said. “He will come tomorrow. But I will definitely honour and respect the order of the SC.”
The minister, in a bid to buy time, has filed a review petition in the apex court.
When he was asked if it was not an embarrassment to have a convicted minister in his cabinet, the chief minister said, “It is but natural.”
Pacheco, a Goa Vikas Party legislator, was inducted in the state cabinet last November, after Parsekar took charge as chief minister following Manohar Parrikar’s elevation as defence minister.
The Supreme Court bench of Justices F M I Kalifulla and Shiva Kirti Singh on Monday dismissed the special leave petition filed by Pacheco challenging the High Court verdict which upheld the conviction and six-month imprisonment.
An assault complaint was lodged on July 15, 2006 by Kapil Natekar, a junior engineer of the government’s Electricity Department. The complaint alleged that Pacheco abused and slapped Natekar in his chamber after summoning him for not attending the telephone call of the minister’s personal assistant. A judicial magistrate convicted Pacheco and sentenced him to one-year jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000.
The appellate court reduced the jail term to six months and the fine to Rs 1,500. Following the revision plea, the sentence was set aside and he was released on ‘admonition’ under the Probation of Offenders’ Act, but the HC overturned this ruling. The SC has upheld the HC ruling.
