As was expected in a very high-handed move Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has got his Cabinet Ministers to hurriedly approve the proposal to grant jailed Nuvem MLA Mickky Pacheco pardon. The convicted Mickky Pacheco who after absconding for two months surrendered on 1st of June is currently undergoing the a six month sentence at the Sada Jail for having as a Minister in 2006 assaulted a Electricity department Junior Engineer Kapil Natekar.
The cabinet proposal to uncage Mickky Pacheco has yesterday been sent to Governor Mridula Sinha who is currently out of station and returns on August 3rd after which she would have to apply her independent mind and decide on the issue. Have last month already met Governor Mridula Sinha twice and requested her not to agree to any absurd move by the Goa Government to grant pardon to Goa’s convicted former Rural Development Minister Mickky Pacheco who is involved in a string of criminal cases. The move to grant Mickky Pacheco pardon is a clear abuse of power. Mickky Pacheco being a political heavy weight, the Goa Government has clearly been conniving and colluding with him to derail the due process of law and making a mockery of the judicial system. The power of Pardon is to be exercised only on the ground to help in saving an innocent person from being punished due to miscarriage of justice or in a case of doubtful conviction. The power to grant pardon is limited and controlled by the Constitution both expressly and impliedly and cannot be misused malafiedly to rescue Mickky Pacheco whose conviction by four Courts has been upheld even by the Supreme Court of India. Mickky Pacheco has been convicted for a serious offence of having as a Minister assaulted a public servant while on duty, Mickky Pacheco’s case by no stretch of imagination warrants a pardon. The Supreme Court has held that the power of Pardon cannot be on extraneous consideration and exercised arbitrarily, malafidely or in absolute disregard to the finer cannons of law. The events over the last four months only proves that the Goa Government has gone overboard in doing everything possible to shield and protect their convicted criminal former Minister Mickky Pacheco. Governor Sinha has already been requested that while considering the proposal of the government to grant Mickky Pacheco pardon she should seek independent legal opinion on the issue as the advice by Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni would be politically tainted and biased. Am confident that Governor Sinha will reject the skewed move by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to pardon Mickky Pacheco. But if need be the doors of the Temple of Justice will have to be once again knocked to uphold the Rule of Law. Aires Rodrigues Advocate High Court C/G-2, Shopping Complex Ribandar Retreat, Ribandar – Goa – 403006 Mobile No: 9822684372 Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012 Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com Or airesrodrig...@yahoo.com You can also reach me on Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues Twitter@rodrigues_aires