Cuttack, Sept. 11: Orissa High Court today imposed a penalty of Rs 7,500 on Sundargarh MLA Yogesh Kumar Singh for not responding to its notices for three years.

Yogesh Kumar Singh had won as a Congress candidate from Sundargarh Assembly seat reserved for the scheduled tribe (ST) candidates in the Assembly poll, 2009.

Prem Sagar Oram, the defeated BJP candidate from the seat, had challenged Singh’s election on the ground that Singh was a Khandayat Bhuyan, which has not been granted ST status. The petitioner has claimed that only Bhuyan, Papdi Bhuyan and Pahadi Bhuyans enjoy the tribal tag.