The Delhi High Court is on Tuesday set to rule on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking a stay on the trial court's order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case.
The decision is expected at 2:30 pm.
A vacation bench headed by Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain reserved the judgment on June 21 after the ED challenged the trial court's decision and ordered an interim stay till the verdict is announced.
Arrested by the ED on March 21, Kejriwal was granted bail on bail by the vacation judge of the trial court last Thursday. ₹1 lakh The court rejected the ED's plea to postpone the process of filing the bail bond for 48 hours. The central probe agency argued that the trial court's decision was “perverse”, “one-sided” and “wrong-sided”.
Kejriwal approached the Supreme Court on Sunday after the High Court stayed his release pending a verdict on the ED petition. While hearing Kejriwal's plea, a vacation bench of the Supreme Court on Monday noted that injunctions are usually decided and announced on the same day. On Monday, the Supreme Court told Kejriwal's lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi that taking any decision at this time would be a premature comment on the matter.
“If we pass any order at this stage, we will decide the matter beforehand. It is not any other court but the High Court,” the bench said. It adjourned the hearing till June 26.
Singhvi sought a temporary stay on the bail order. He argued that Kejriwal should be released till the Delhi High Court decides on the matter. He added that the Delhi Chief Minister was not a flight risk. “I know what I am asking. This court should stay the order of the High Court before pronouncing it, just as the High Court stayed the bail order on the mere mention of the Enforcement Directorate.
Kejriwal was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on May 10 to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections. They were directed to surrender by June 2 and were barred from visiting the Chief Minister's office and the Delhi Secretariat during that time.