New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined immediate relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on his plea against the Delhi High Court's interim stay on the trial court's order granting him bail in a money laundering case in connection with an alleged excise scam.
A bench comprising justices Manoj Mishra and S V N Bhatti adjourned the hearing on Kejriwal’s petition and scheduled it for further hearing on Wednesday.
The bench said that normally, in stay applications, orders are not reserved and they are passed at the hearing itself. “Bit unusual but we will have it the day after tomorrow….”, said the bench. “Order impugned in this special leave petition is an order by which after hearing the counsel of the parties, order was reserved on the stay application….persual of the impugned would reveal parties’ were given opportunity to file short submissions...”, noted the bench.
Additional solicitor general S V Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate, submitted that the order on the stay application will be passed shortly by the high court and therefore, it would be appropriate that the apex court adjourns the proceedings. After hearing submissions, the bench, in its order, said: “We deem it appropriate that the case be listed day after....and if the high court passes an order meanwhile let that be brought on record”.
During the hearing, senior advocate A M Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, vehemently argued that staying bail on the very first day of the hearing is unprecedented. He submitted that bail granted and bail reversal is different and, regarding the high court order, added that the procedure of staying bail on the first day is unprecedented. “Balance of convenience is in my favour. If the plea is rejected then he goes back to jail and goes back to the situation as it was three weeks ago when he surrendered under Supreme Court order”, submitted Singhvi.
Raju strongly argued that the findings of the trial court were perverse and pointed out that the judge did not go through the papers of the case and passed the order granting bail to Kejriwal. Raju questioned how can the court pass the order without going through the records? Singhvi argued that the high court did not wait for the trial court to be uploaded and stayed the order. He added that if the high court can stay the trial court order without seeing it, then why can’t the apex court do the same. Justice Mishra replied that if the high court has committed a mistake why should the apex court repeat it.
The high court had said the trial court order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shall not be given effect till it hears the Enforcement Directorate's plea challenging the relief granted in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam. The ED had challenged the trial court's order passed on Thursday evening.
The ED sought a stay on the trial court order contending that the agency was not given a proper opportunity to argue its case. The ED had arrested Kejriwal on March 21, shortly after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from arrest on his petition challenging summonses issued to him.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor could have walked out of Tihar Jail on Friday had the high court not granted the interim relief to the federal anti-money laundering agency.
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