Delhi HC to hear CBI plea against excise case discharge on 25 May; agency told to notify Kejriwal, Sisodia

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday fixed 25 May for hearing the Central Bureau of Investigation’s challenge to a trial court order that discharged former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and other accused in the alleged excise policy case.

Justice Manoj Jain directed the CBI to inform Kejriwal, Sisodia and former AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak about the change of bench and ensure they are aware that the matter has now been assigned to his court.

“Let them be intimated that the case has been allocated to this court. So if they have to say anything or respond to the present petition, let them be served. Once everybody is here, we will draw a schedule of hearing,” Justice Jain said.

The matter was transferred to Justice Jain after Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma recused herself from hearing the case last week.

Trial court had discharged all accused

On 27 February, a trial court discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the excise policy case, holding that the prosecution's case could not withstand judicial scrutiny and stood discredited in its entirety.

The CBI subsequently challenged the order before the High Court.

The proceedings later became contentious after Kejriwal, Sisodia, Pathak and some other respondents sought Justice Sharma’s recusal, citing apprehensions of bias and conflict of interest.

After Justice Sharma rejected the recusal pleas on 20 April, the three leaders wrote to her stating they would neither appear before her personally nor through legal counsel and would instead follow “Mahatma Gandhi’s path of Satyagraha”.

Contempt proceedings initiated

The dispute escalated further on 14 May when Justice Sharma initiated criminal contempt proceedings against the leaders and certain other AAP functionaries over what the court described as “vilifying” social media posts directed at her. She subsequently clarified that the main excise matter would be assigned to another bench.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, argued that the trial court’s discharge order was legally unsustainable.

“The order cannot withstand scrutiny of any court in the eyes of law,” Mehta submitted, urging the High Court to hear the matter expeditiously as it related to an alleged scam in the national capital.

However, noting that Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak were not represented before the court, Justice Jain deferred substantive proceedings until 25 May.

“Ideal scenario is that everybody is here and everybody is heard,” the judge observed, adding that fresh intimation would be sent to the unrepresented respondents in accordance with legal requirements before the matter proceeds further.