June 24th 2024.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court dealt a major blow to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday, by refusing to intervene in the stay order issued by the Delhi High Court on his release on bail. A vacation bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti chose not to provide any temporary relief to CM Kejriwal and postponed the proceedings to Wednesday. This was because the Delhi High Court is expected to make a decision on the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) request for an interim stay in the next day or two.
During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented CM Kejriwal, objected to the stay granted by the Delhi High Court without even giving them a chance to present their case. He argued that it is a well-established principle of law that the standards for granting bail and revoking bail are completely different. He also pointed out that the Delhi High Court granted an interim stay on the ED's appeal even though the trial court's order granting bail had not been uploaded and no reasons were given for the stay.
Singhvi also reminded the court that while reserving their judgment on Kejriwal's plea challenging the validity of the ED's arrest and remand, the Supreme Court had specifically given them the liberty to approach the trial court for bail in the case of a money laundering investigation related to an alleged excise policy scam. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who represented the ED, argued that the trial court had not properly reviewed the evidence and this was noted in the bail order.
"How could an order be passed without even looking at the evidence? It's a completely biased decision," submitted SG Mehta, highlighting that the requirements for granting bail under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act were not met in this case.
In the meantime, the Delhi High Court had granted an interim stay on the release of Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on June 21, based on the ED's plea to challenge the trial court's bail order. A vacation bench of Justices Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ravinder Dudeja of the high court ordered that the bail order should not be put into effect until the matter is fully heard. Later that day, the Delhi High Court reserved its order on the ED's plea for an interim stay and stated that it would announce its decision in the next two to three days.
The ED had requested the trial court on Thursday to defer the signing of the bail bond for 48 hours following the pronouncement of the order. However, the trial court firmly rejected the ED's plea for a stay on its order granting bail.
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