The Delhi High Court on Monday criticised a former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA who moved the Court seeking directions to remove Arvind Kejriwal as Chief Minister (CM) of Delhi following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case connected to the Delhi excise policy scam. [Sandeep Kumar v Arvind Kejriwal and Ors.]Justice Subramonium Prasad criticised the petitioner, Sandeep Kumar, for filing the plea though two similar petitions filed by others had already been rejected by the High Court earlier."Heavy costs should be imposed on you," the Court remarked.The single-judge remarked that similar matters had been heard and rejected by the bench of acting Chief Justice Manmohan and the present plea was nothing but a publicity interest petition.It eventually proceeded to transfer the matter to the bench of the acting Chief Justice since that bench had heard similar petitions before.This is the third plea to remove Kejriwal as CM that the High Court has dismissed.Earlier, on March 28, the High Court had rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by one Surjit Singh Yadav.The High Court had then said that it is for the executive and the President to examine the issue and the Court cannot interfere with the same.Thereafter, on April 4, the Court refused to entertain another PIL by Vishnu Gupta, who is the president of Hindu Sena. The Court said it would be Kejriwal's personal call to continue as the CM or not.Nevertheless, the bench did drop a subtle hint.“At times, personal interest has to be subordinate to national interest but that is his (Kejriwal's) personal call,” it remarked.The third plea, a writ petition, was filed by Sandeep Kumar stating that Kejriwal, though incapacitated, continues to hold the office of the Chief Minister of Delhi which not only raises several constitutional complications but also violates the guarantee of Right to Life of the people in Delhi.Kumar sought a writ of quo warranto against Kejriwal, calling upon him to demonstrate by what authority, qualification, and title he holds the office of Chief Minister of Delhi under Article 239AA of the Constitution. After an inquiry, Kumar requested that Kejriwal be removed from the office of Chief Minister of Delhi, with or without retrospective effect.
TAGS: Delhi High Court Sandeep Kumar Arvind Kejriwal money laundering case
