On Thursday (21st March), the Delhi High Court refused to grant any interim relief from coercive action to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi Liquor Scam case. A division bench comprising Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain mentioned that they are not inclined to pass any such order to grant relief to the Delhi CM.
The High Court has asked for a response from the Enforcement Directorate regarding this new interim plea, scheduling the matter for 22nd April 2024.
In a media interaction, the Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said, “The petition is not maintainable, that was our main ground. And according to us, it’s not maintainable, it’s a desperate attempt for him to file the petition. Delhi HC stated that we are not inclined to grant an interim relief.”
#WATCH | Delhi HC refuses to grant any interim protection from coercive action to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and said at this stage "we are not inclined to grant an interim relief."
— ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2024
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju says, "The petition is not maintainable that was our… pic.twitter.com/LCOqs2R25u
The bench has given the Enforcement Directorate the freedom to submit a response to Arvind Kejriwal’s application for interim relief, which is a component of his petition contesting the summons issued to him by the central probe agency in the money laundering case. Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented Kejriwal, while ASG SV Raju, along with special counsel Zoheb Hossain, appeared on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The main petition seeks to set aside all proceedings against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in the “capacity of national convener of a political party/chief minister of the state” or in any other capacity arising out of and emanating from ED’s August 22, 2022 Case as well as all consequential proceedings emanating from it, including the summons of February 29, and March 16, and any further summons that may be issued to him.
Notably, by skipping the Enforcement Directorate’s repeated summonses in the Delhi excise policy scam, Arvind Kejriwal violated Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) – which deals with disobeying a legal order to be at a certain place in person or by an agent.
