Delhi HC to hear on Apr 23 ex-CM Kejriwal's plea against ED summons

New Delhi, Jan 22 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday posted on April 23 former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea against ED's summons to him in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam.

A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Justice Dharmesh Sharma noted repeated adjournments in the matter which had delayed the hearing and said no further adjournments would be given.

Kejriwal's counsel sought an adjournment due to the unavailability of the senior advocate.

The ED counsel said the petition was now infructuous.

Deferring the hearing, the court said, "No further adjournments shall be granted." The AAP national convener moved the high court after the ED issued him a ninth summon to appear on March 21, 2024.

The high court on March 20, 2024 asked the probe agency to file a reply on the maintainability of the petition.

The next day, it asked the ED to also respond to Kejriwal's plea seeking protection from arrest, saying "at this stage" it was not inclined to grant him any interim relief.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED later that evening and is currently on interim bail in the money laundering case.

The Supreme Court, while granting him the relief, referred questions on the aspect of "need and necessity of arrest" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to a larger bench for an in-depth consideration.

After CBI arrested him in the alleged corruption case on June 26, 2024, he was granted bail in the matter on September 13, 2024 by the top court.

The ED alleged other accused in the case were in touch with Kejriwal for formulating the now-scrapped excise policy which resulted in undue benefits to them and kickbacks to AAP.

In his petition, Kejriwal also challenged the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the PMLA over arrest, questioning and grant of bail.

He has raised several issues, including whether a political party is covered under the anti-money laundering law.

It alleged that "arbitrary procedure" under PMLA was being used to create a non-level playing field for the general elections to "skew the electoral process in the favour of the ruling party at the Centre".

Saying the petitioner was a "vocal critic" of the ruling party and a partner of the opposition INDIA bloc, the plea said ED, being under control of the Centre, was "weaponised". PTI ADS AMK

Source: PTI