The Delhi High Court on Monday adjourned the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) plea challenging the discharge of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and several others in the excise policy case. The next hearing is now scheduled for July 16, following the transfer of the case to a new bench.
During the proceedings, the CBI reiterated the gravity of the matter, stating that the alleged liquor scam has deeply “affected” the national capital.
Bench Transfer and Court’s Caution
The adjournment comes after the case was recently transferred from the bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma to Justice Manoj Jain.
On May 19, the court had indicated that fresh notices might be issued to the involved parties regarding this new allocation. Addressing the transition on Monday, Justice Manoj Jain emphasized that the court wanted to proceed with absolute clarity, ensuring none of the parties had objections to the bench transfer.
“We understand that the case has been received on transfer allocation,” Justice Jain remarked. “Ideally speaking, because of the fact you know what are the reasons, the matter is already in the newspaper, so we assume otherwise that it must be near knowledge that the matter is now allocated to this court.”
Stressing that “a day here or there would not make any difference,” Justice Jain stated that the court wanted to be “sure and certain” of the parties’ stance on the present allocation before moving forward.
Background: Contempt Proceedings and Recusal
The change in bench follows a decision by Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, who previously announced that she would not be hearing the CBI’s revision plea against the discharge of Kejriwal and others.
Before the transfer, Justice Sharma had initiated criminal contempt action against several prominent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including:
- Arvind Kejriwal
- Manish Sisodia
- Durgesh Pathak
- Sanjay Singh
- Vinay Mishra
- Saurabh Bharadwaj
Pronouncing the order in the criminal contempt proceedings, Justice Sharma remarked that “Arvind Kejriwal orchestrated a calculated campaign of vilification.”
Furthermore, Justice Sharma observed that former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak (listed as Respondent number 19) had also authored letters and posted online content on similar lines. The court ruled that their actions were contemptuous and fell within the ambit of criminal contempt as defined under Section 2C of the Contempt of Courts Act, leading to the ongoing legal actions.
The Delhi High Court will resume hearing the CBI’s plea on July 16.
