The Delhi High Court on Monday came down heavily on a former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA for filing a petition seeking removal of Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal as Chief Minister of Delhi following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over his alleged involvement in the Delhi Excise Policy scam case.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad reprimanded petitioner Sandeep Kumar for filing a third plea, after knowing fully well that two similar petitions filed by others had already been rejected by the Bench of acting Chief Justice Manmohan earlier.
Warning to impose heavy costs on the petitioner, the High Court said that the present plea was nothing but a publicity interest petition.
The single-judge Bench transferred the matter to the bench of the acting Chief Justice on the grounds that it had heard similar petitions before.
The current petition sought removal of Kejriwal from the office of the Chief Minister of Delhi, with or without retrospective effect.
It contended that though incapacitated, the national convenor of AAP continued to hold the office of the Chief Minister of Delhi, which not only raised several constitutional complications, but also violated the guarantee of the Right to Life of the people in Delhi.
Kumar sought a writ of quo warranto against the incumbent Delhi Chief Minister, calling upon him to demonstrate by what authority, qualification, and title he was holding the office of Chief Minister of Delhi under Article 239AA of the Constitution.
Earlier on April 4, the High Court had refused to entertain a plea seeking direction to remove Arvind Kejriwal from the post of Chief Minister.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora dismissed the plea lodged by Vishnu Gupta who is the president of an organisation named Hindu Sena.
The petitioner sought removal of Arvind Kejriwal mentioning his arrest in the money laundering case related to the Delhi liquor policy scam.
Dismissing the plea, the high court stated that it would be a personal call for Kejriwal whether to continue or not. The court added that at times personal interest has to be subordinate to national interest.
The court said that it cannot decide the issue and it is upto the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi or the President of India to take a call on the issue. Questioning how they can declare that the government is not functioning, the court mentioned that the LG is fully competent to decide. The bench further added that they are none to advise the Chief Minister and that he will do whatever he has to do in accordance with the law.
The High Court clarified that it will not interfere in the issue and petitioner’s remedy lies before the President of India or the LG. Therefore, the court said that the petitioner can reach the relevant authority. Subsequently, the petitioner withdrew the plea.
This is the second plea to remove Arvind Kejriwal from the post of Delhi Chief Minister. Previously, on March 28, the Delhi High Court had rejected a similar plea filed by Surjit Singh Yadav. The court had then said that it is for the executive and the President to examine the issue and the court cannot interfere with the same.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Enforcement Directorate has arrested Delhi Chief Minister and Aam aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on March 21 after questioning and searches in his residence in connection to liquor policy case. This is the first time that a sitting Chief Minister was arrested in the history of independent India.