The Supreme Court vacation bench on Tuesday refused to allow an urgent hearing of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea for the extension of his interim bail by seven days on medical grounds. The vacation bench said it’s appropriate if the Chief Justice of India takes a call on the listing of the plea.
Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy and lodged in Tihar Jail, is supposed to surrender on June 2.
A vacation bench comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and KV Viswanathan took note of the submissions of senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi chief minister, and said the decision on the listing of the interim plea can be taken by the “Honourable CJI” because the judgment has been reserved in the main matter.
The bench asked Abhishek Singhvi why the plea of Arvind Kejriwal was not mentioned for urgent listing last week when Justice Dipankar Datta, one of the judges of the main bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna which had granted the interim bail to the chief minister, was sitting on the vacation bench.
The Supreme Court granted Arvind Kejriwal interim bail for 21 days on May 10 to enable him to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections 2024. However, it barred him from visiting his office or the Delhi secretariat and signing official files unless absolutely necessary to obtain the lieutenant governor’s approval.
The plea said the chief minister is required to undergo some medical tests and for this purpose, the interim bail, which is ending on June 1, be extended.
Arvind Kejriwal has sought an extension to undergo a host of medical tests, including a PET-CT scan, in view of his “sudden and unexplained weight loss, coupled with high ketone levels”, which are indicative of kidney, serious cardiac ailments and even cancer.
The matter relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.
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