The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea seeking the removal of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal from the post and office of Chief Minister, Delhi due to his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the liquor policy case.
The bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta said that the Court was not inclined to interfere with the Delhi High Court’s judgment dismissing the plea to remove Kejriwal as the Delhi Chief Minister. The bench also noted that the petitioner who had approached the Supreme Court, Kant Bhati, was not the petitioner before the High Court.
During the hearing, Justice Sanjiv Khanna verbally questioned the legal right. He added that the court is not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment and asked the LG to take action if he wants to. Subsequently, the Special Leave Petition was dismissed.
Notably, the genesis of the case lies in a plea lodged by respondent, Sandeep Kumar before the Delhi High Court. The aforementioned plea sought a writ of quo warranto against Arvind Kejriwal, to show by what authority, qualification and title, he continued to hold the office of the Chief Minister of Delhi under Article 239AA of the Constitution. The plea further sought the AAP leader’s dislodging from the office of CM, after inquiry.
The petitioner asserted that Arvind Kejriwal, who was in judicial custody over the Delhi liquor policy case, had incurred incapacity to carry out his Constitutional obligations and functions under Articles 239AA (4), 167(b) and (c) of the Constitution. Therefore, he could no longer function as the Chief Minister.
He further averred that the Delhi Lieutenant Governor was being prevented from discharging his Constitutional obligations under Article 167(c) of the Constitution due to the absence of access to the Chief Minister.
The Delhi High Court on April 10 dismissed a plea while imposing a cost of Rs 50,000 considering that it was aimed at gaining publicity. Furthermore, it also noted that the petitioner pursued the petition despite being aware of three orders passed by the court denying identical prayers.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court recently granted interim bail to CM Arvind Kejriwal till June 1.