Delhi High Court Says Fresh Notice Be Issued To Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia & Durgesh Pathak After Transfer Of Excise Policy Case
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (May 19) said that fresh notice be issued to AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal, and leaders Manish Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak regarding CBI's plea challenging discharge of the accused in the excise policy case which was transferred last week to another bench.
During the hearing today, Justice Manoj Jain noted that three respondents were still not represented today. The Court was informed respondents 8,18,19 (Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak) were not appearing on previous dates.
It thus said to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the CBI to ensure that respondents Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak are intimated that the case is transferred and if they want to appear.
It orally said:
"We understand that case is received on transfer. The matter is already is newspapers so we assume that they know that matter is transferred. But still we will send them fresh notice. A day here or there wont make any difference and once they are here then only we will know if they are satisfied with present allocation. Ideal scenario would be that everyone is here and everyone is heard".
The court said that any replies be filed may be filed by the respondents before the next date of hearing and directed that those respondents who are unrepresented by counsel are served. The matter is listed on May 25.
During the hearing SG Mehta said that the notice on CBI's petition was issued on March 9 and was served on everyone.
"They are aware of this. Thereafter several orders passed. Not going into merits right now. This is case where because of serious allegations, chargesheet was filed. Respondents filed discharge applications... At the time of framing of charge, everyone prayed for discharge, no specific application was there. The discharge order cannot stand scrutiny of law," he said.
He argued that the matter pertains to a "scam" in the national capital and has to be decided at the earliest. Meanwhile Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat appearing for one of the respondents said that there are applications against maintainability of CBI's petition may be decided first.
He said, "My argument is that counsels who filed the revision petition are not APPs or other prosecutors. They are private counsels. I will argue my application".
At this stage the court noted that replies are yet to be filed by some respondents in the matter. Meanwhile SG Mehta said that he had been insisting that respondents file their replies but despite many orders granting last opportunity, four respondents have not filed reply.
The court orally said that without prejudice to applications against maintainability, replies have to be filed.
The development comes after Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, who was hearing the matter earlier as per roster, transferred it to another bench.
The transfer was done after she initiated contempt proceedings against Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Vinay Mishra, Durgesh Pathak and Saurabh Bharadwaj. She had earlier rejected the recusal applications like by Kejriwal and others.
Notably, today a division bench issued notice to Kejriwal and AAP's other leaders in the criminal contempt proceedings.
On February 27, the trial court discharged all the 23 accused persons in the case, including political leaders Kejriwal, Sisodia and K Kavitha. The trial court had also severely criticised the CBI's investigation in the case.
It may be noted that the case had become politically controversial, as Kejriwal was arrested and remanded to the custody amidst the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He was later granted bail by the Supreme Court after 156 days of custody. AAP leader Manish Sisodia also spent 530 days in custody in the case.
The CBI's revision against the trial court's order was heard by Justice Sharma, who on March 9, prima facie observed that the trial court's observations were erroneous.
Later, Kejriwal and some other accused, including Sisodia, filed applications seeking recusal of Justice Sharma on ground of apprehension of bias. Last week, Justice Sharma, dismissed the recusal applications and decided to hear the matter herself.
Thereafter, Kejriwal and Sisodia wrote to Justice Sharma stating that they are boycotting the hearing before her and will not appear, either in person or through a counsel.
Case Title: CBI v. Kuldeep Singh & Ors