The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a plea challenging the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case liked to alleged excise policy scam. The court said that the Chief Minister ‘has the means and wherewithal to approach the court and file appropriate proceedings.’
The high court rejected a petition seeking the Centre to inform the Election Commission about the arrest of a political leader during the model code of conduct, citing legal misunderstanding.
A bench of acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora said, “This court is of the view that the present writ petition which effectively challenges the arrest of the national convenor of AAP is not maintainable as the said person is in judicial custody in pursuance to judicial orders, which are not a subject matter of the present petition.
The petition conspicuously fails to name the person though the identity is apparent due to the references made to his political standing/position”.
The high court said there was no merit in the petition and it was “frivolous” and appeared to have been filed with the “intent of garnering publicity”.
The order was passed on May 1, but the detailed verdict was made available on Friday.
The bench dismissed the petition, saying petitioner Amarjeet Gupta, a law student, has no locus standi to seek the reliefs in favour of the arrested person.
The court said that earlier also a similar public interest litigation (PIL) was dismissed with costs by this court after observing that the petitioner had no locus standi to approach the court for seeking relief with respect to criminal proceedings initiated against Kejriwal.
Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case on March 21.
(With inputs from PTI)
Catch all the Business News, Politics news,Breaking NewsEvents andLatest News Updates on Live Mint. Download TheMint News App to get Daily Market Updates.