Delhi High Court To Appoint Amicus For Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia As They Boycott CBI's Excise Policy Challenge

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it will appoint three senior advocates as amicus curiae to represent Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak— who have chosen to boycott proceedings in CBI's petition challenging their discharge in the corruption case related to the alleged liquor policy scam.

The Aam Aadmi Party leaders decided to boycott the hearing following Justice Sharma's refusal to recuse from the hearing.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma today noted that Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak are not represented and said, "I will appoint some senior as amicus for respondents 8,18 and 19."

"It will be appropriate if I hear arguments of CBI once I appoint amicus," the judge added.

The Court is likely to update the names of amicus on Friday (May 08). "I will appoint three seniors in this. Then we will start hearing," Justice Sharma said.

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.

The excise policy was framed by the Delhi Government to boost revenue and reform liquor trade in 2021, which was later withdrawn after allegations of irregularities in implementation were made and Lieutenant-Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the policy.

This policy – which sought to completely privatise liquor trade in the national capital – was used to grant undue advantage to private entities at the cost of the public exchequer and smacked of corruption, the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation claimed.

Manish Sisodia was first arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a case related to the excise policy on February 26, 2023 and later by the Enforcement Directorate on March 9, 2023. In the first information report (FIR) registered by the CBI, Sisodia and others have been accused of being instrumental in 'recommending' and 'taking decisions' regarding the 2021-22 excise policy, “without the approval of competent authority with an intention to extend undue favours to the licensee post tender”.

The central agency also claimed that the AAP leader was arrested because he gave evasive replies and refused to cooperate with the investigation, despite being confronted with evidence.

The AAP chief (Kejriwal) was formally arrested by CBI on June 26, 2024, while he was in custody of the Enforcement Directorate in the money laundering case arising out of the alleged liquor policy scam.

Case Title: CBI v. Kuldeep Singh & Ors