The Delhi High Court bench on Monday morning could be said to have changed gears. The huge excise policy case for Delhi is now on the rails. This has been the case with top leaders of Aam Aadmi Party, who have been adamant that they would not arrange a date for the meeting for weeks. Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak boycotted all the hearings. It was more of a form of legal strike. Until today, however, that all changed. The case has now been put before a brand new judge. The proceedings were taken over by Justice Manoj Jain.
Then the boycott came to an endhttps://indialegallive.com/constitutional-law-news/courts-news/delhi-high-court-adjourns-cbi-plea-challenging-arvind-kejriwals-discharge-in-excise-policy-case/
The three politicians submitted their official documents. In legal parlance, it is known as vakalatnama. Their lawyers are now authorized to represent them before this particular bench. The judge recognised this right away. He scanned the records and knew that the politicians who had been unrepresented were now back in line. Justice Jain wanted everyone’s voice to be heard in its proper manner. He has extended the next actual hearing until July 16. This provides the lawyers time to prepare for the summer arguments
Standing up to the rush!
The Central Bureau of Investigation wasn’t very happy about the long wait. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was in court on behalf of the federal agency. He wanted to get things going before the court goes on summer recess. He wanted to request an appearance by the judge this coming Wednesday.
This was shut down by Justice Jain in a hurry. He noted the obvious calendaring problems. The high court has declared Wednesday as a public holiday due to Eid al-Adha. He also reminded the federal lawyer of the importance of the huge workload of the court. Typically, judges are interested in the pressing issues of life and liberty just before a big vacation. A massive corruption appeal, which is too big to handle now, will have to wait until July. Both sides will have ample time in the summer break to hone their arguments. The CBI had already submitted an affidavit to establish that they had notified the politicians of the transfer. Now only the Registry has to check new lawyer papers
https://frontline.thehindu.com/columns/delhi-liquor-scam-high-court-bias/article70757806.ece
The Trial Court went way off Course!
It’s important to remember why this appeal is being so hotly contended on February 27. It was on that day the federal investigators were dropped a bomb by a lower court. In the liquor policy case, the huge piles of evidence were presented to the trial judge who essentially tossed it all out. In a single decision, the court acquitted Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and 21 other accused of the charge sheets.
The lower court had no qualms about it. The judge heavily criticised the conduct of the CBI in the handling of the entire investigation. The agency brought senior political figures into the scandal without evidence and “without any reason,” the ruling bluntly said. The trial court pointed out huge deficiencies in the lengthy charge sheet. It was based on no real evidence or backing from witnesses. The federal agency has been instructed that their whole case was completely incapable of even being presented to a court for the most preliminary of scrutiny. The investigators were humiliated in the middle of a big election campaign. For months the AAP leaders had been in jail. Sisodia was jailed for an estimated period of 530 days. Kejriwal had been languishing in jail for 156 days before he was granted bail by the Supreme Court. It was a huge accomplishment to be discharged.
The Bitter Fight Over the First Judge
The CBI didn’t let it rest though. They immediately ran to the Delhi High Court to challenge the discharge order. It was then, that real drama began. The appeal was laid on the table of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma. On March 9th, she glanced at the files and made a few observations. She suspended a lower court order to take action against the investigating officer of the CBI. She also said that on the face of it, some of the findings of the trial court were very wrong.
This was all a warning red flag for the AAP camp. Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak were upset about the judge’s bias. They submitted official applications to have her recused from the case. They alleged that the wiretapping was an “interference with justice. They claimed that the judge’s children were Central Government lawyers and receiving work assignments from the same Solicitor General who was opposing them in court.
Justice Sharma was in a rage. On April 20, she completely tore up their applications for recusal. But judges don’t retire simply because a litigant has an irrational dread of bias, she said. That’s when the politicians took a turn for the worse. They had letters sent to the court. They declared that they would no longer have to see her face. They referred to Mahatma Gandhi and declared their boycott to be Satyagraha. They didn’t send their lawyers.
The case was reassigned to the Office of General Counsel and Contempt Charges were filed.
It was a stand off that rapidly became very ugly. The boycott was not taken lightly by Justice Sharma. Not only was she not being served by the politicians, she noticed that they were ignoring her courtroom. On social media she saw a very calculated attack on her. She was the subject of a barrage of videos and posts on the internet attacking her integrity.
On May 14, the judge decided she had enough. She filed serious criminal contempt proceedings against Kejriwal, Sisodia, Pathak and some other AAP members. She claimed that they were trying to get revenge on the judiciary and to “hurt the credibility of the judiciary”. She pointed out their vilifying posts and false allegations. She filed the contempt action and then finally withdrew from the primary excise policy appeal. She basically had to contend with their contemptuous behaviour, and she couldn’t hear the main case.
