The Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court are scheduled to hear on Monday (April 29, 2024) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging the ED’s arrest in the excise policy. A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta will hear the plea of Aam Aadmi Party national convener Kejriwal. Kejriwal says he was arrested in view of the Lok Sabha elections.
CM Kejriwal has challenged his arrest and subsequent remand by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise policy case. He has described his arrest as politically motivated and said that his arrest in the money laundering case related to the Delhi Excise Policy for free and fair elections is not justified. They say that the ruling party will get undue advantage in the general elections taking place in the country and it is against the principles of free and fair elections.
In the petition, Kejriwal claimed that a sitting chief minister and the national coordinator of one of the national opposition parties had been illegally arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) five days after the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections and the implementation of the model code of conduct. . ED has rejected these pleas.
Arvind Kejriwal has said that central agencies like ED are being misused by the central government to weaken the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders.
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The counter affidavit filed by the Deputy Director of ED has stated that the petition filed by Kejriwal has no merit. His arrest was necessitated by his complete non-cooperation in the investigation.
The affidavit states that CM Kejriwal was issued summons nine times, but he did not appear before the ED officials. While recording his statement under Section 17 of PMLA he was trying to avoid questions and was completely non-cooperative.
At the same time, a public interest litigation filed regarding the poor condition of MCD schools is to be heard in the Delhi High Court today. Earlier, the court was told that around two lakh students are not getting basic facilities due to administrative hurdles.
About two lakh children of MCD schools have not been provided with books. For which on April 26, the High Court reprimanded CM Kejriwal and the Delhi government along with the MCD.
Subsequently, the AAP’s Delhi government and Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj were accused by the Delhi Lieutenant Governor of delaying approval of the proposal to temporarily increase the financial powers of the MCD Commissioner from Rs 5 crore to Rs 50 crore.
Officials say that the standing committee of the municipal corporation has not been constituted for more than a year. Therefore some important projects related to education, health and sanitation are stuck due to this delay.
Meanwhile, his wife Sunita Kejriwal will not be allowed to meet Arvind Kejriwal in jail on Monday.
According to the prison manual, only two people are allowed to visit each other in a week. Delhi Government Minister Atishi and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann have already applied for a meeting through the visitors portal. Due to which the application of Sunita Kejriwal was cancelled. The Tihar Jail administration will reconsider the applications of the first two applicants after meeting them.
Atishi is expected to meet the Chief Minister today around 12.30 pm.
