The Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed Goa Chief Secretary to file an affidavit specifying the health status of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday.

The direction by Justice R.M. Borde follows a petition by local politician Trajano D'Mello, who had sought to know the health status of Parrikar, who is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and has not attended any official meeting or function outside his private residence for more than a month now.

D'Mello in his petition filed earlier this month had asked the court to direct state Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma to evaluate the former Defence Minister's health by a panel of expert doctors and release a medical report in public domain.

Parrikar has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi for nearly nine months.

He returned from New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14 and has not moved out of his private residence for any official event since.

The Opposition as well ruling coalition allies have been demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister, claiming that the administration has come to a standstill due to Parrikar's absence.

Ever since Parrikar's health started deteriorating, there has been no health bulletin, as demanded by the Opposition, from the Chief Minister's Office, barring several informal intimations to the media from Parrikar's office, which suggested that he was suffering from "indigestion" and "mild pancreatitis".

--IANS

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