NEW DELHI, July 11
The Delhi High Court on Thursday listed for hearing on September 9 Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise policy case, and concerning the validity and interpretation of certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A division bench of Justice Prathiba Singh and Justice Amit Sharma granted four more weeks to the Aam Aadmi Party national convenor to file his response to the ED’s reply in the matter.
The senior counsel appearing for Kejriwal said that “certain circumstances have taken place” where the CM has been “arrested in another case”. “We are also not being given a proper legal interview for which an application is also coming up… Allow us 2-3 weeks’ time to file a rejoinder,” the senior counsel said.
Kejriwal is presently in judicial custody in both the ED’s money laundering case and the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI’s) corruption case related to the now-scrapped excise policy.
The high court had on March 20 asked the ED to file its reply on the maintainability of Kejriwal’s petition.
On March 21, the high court had said that “at this stage”, it is “not inclined” to grant any interim relief to Kejriwal, while hearing his application seeking protection from any coercive action. Pursuant to the hearing, Kejriwal was arrested by the agency late in the evening of March 21 in the excise policy case.
Notably, on May 10, the Supreme Court granted Kejriwal interim bail until June 1, the seventh and last phase of voting in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, with certain conditions.
The plea before the high court seeks that Section (2) (s) of the PMLA be declared as “ultravires, unconstitutional and arbitrary insofar to the extent that it is construed to include a political party within its ambit and sweep” or in alternative seeks reading down of the provision.
Among the various prayers made, the plea seeks setting aside of all proceedings against 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 the ED’s August 22, 2022 Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) as well as all consequential proceedings emanating from it, including the summons of February 29, March 16 and any further summons that may be issued to him.On June 20, the trial court had granted bail to Kejriwal in the ED’s money laundering case but on June 25, the high court stayed the bail order after the central agency approached the high court. On June 26, the CBI placed Kejriwal under “formal” arrest in the corruption case linked to the excise policy.
