New Delhi: The Supreme Court registry Wednesday declined Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s request to list his application, seeking more time to surrender, for an urgent hearing before a vacation bench.
Kejriwal, who has to surrender on 2 June, had asked for a seven-day extension of his interim bail on medical grounds.
Registry officials said that since the judgment was already reserved on Kejriwal’s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the liquor policy case, the present application had no correlation to the main petition.
Quoting the relevant provisions of Supreme Court administrative rules, the registrar’s response said on 10 May Kejriwal was directed to be released on interim bail till 1 June, subject to conditions mentioned in the order.
Thereafter, arguments in the main appeal were heard, and the case was reserved for judgment on 17 May.
The response further mentioned that as per the 17 May order, Kejriwal was advised to file an application for grant of bail, without prejudice to his rights and contentions, notwithstanding the fact that SC had reserved the judgment.
“Once the main appeal is reserved for judgment upon conclusion of arguments and liberty is granted to the Applicant by this Hon’ble Court, the question of the applicant again approaching this Hon’ble Court for the above said relief is misconceived. The relief sought for in the present application is directly in conflict with and contrary to the Order dated 17.05.2024 passed by this Hon’ble Court,” stated the registrar’s response.
Further, it is well settled that interim relief can be sought only in aid to the main relief. The relief sought for is beyond the scope of the main appeal since the issue (pending in SC) is relating to the validity of the arrest of the applicant in question and not relating to his release on bail, the registrar said.
“For all these reasons, I refuse to receive the present application, as it does not disclose any reasonable cause for being entertained,” stated the registrar’s response.
In a written response to Kejriwal’s request, officials also said the application would not be “maintainable” because he was given liberty to move the trial court for regular bail.
The matter of listing went to the registrar after a vacation bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and K. Viswanathan Tuesday questioned why Kejriwal had not filed his application last week when one of the judges who gave him interim bail on 10 May was holding court as a vacation judge. To recollect, the top court is on a summer recess and three vacation benches hold court every day.
Appearing for the Delhi chief minister, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi implored the court to list Kejriwal’s application, maintaining it was not a misuse of process. However, both judges took a view that the appropriate authority to decide on his request would be the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and preferred to refer the matter to be put before him.
The judges also enquired why the application wasn’t moved when Justice Dipankar Datta was sitting in court. “Why did you not mention the matter when Justice Datta was here, why did you not mention it, why did you wait,” the judges asked Singhvi.
Justice Datta was part of the bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna who had heard and then reserved orders on 17 May on Kejriwal’s petition to invalidate his arrest. On 10 May, the same bench had given him interim bail to facilitate his participation in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, but directed him to surrender on 2 June.
In his application, Kejriwal has urged the top court to let him surrender seven days later — on 9 June — so that he can get medical tests done in the working week after 1 June, which is also the last date of elections.
Justices Maheshwari and Viswanathan pointed out that the bench had already reserved its verdict on his plea.
In response to the judges’ query, Singhvi clarified: “That (17 May hearing) is related to the main matter. This is only for a health check-up and nothing else.”
It was then that Justice Maheshwari, after consulting Justice Vishwanathan, asked. “Why did you not file this application last week?” To this, Singhvi responded by saying that the medical prescription was given to Kejriwal only on Saturday.
In his application before the apex court, Kejriwal said he had suffered health-related complications during his arrest. His recent test reports pointed to high blood glucose levels as well as high ketone levels in urine, he said, adding he may have developed kidney-related complications and even kidney damage.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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