The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh, which opposed the fresh allegations made by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in reply to a civil defamation case filed against him, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other party members.
A bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Mukta Gupta turned down Mr. Ashutosh’s appeal observing that the nature of the allegation referred to is the re-publication of what is said in the main plaint Mr. Jaitley had filed.
“It is actually a case of re-publication of facts mentioned in the main plaint and not additional grounds,” the Bench observed, while dismissing the appeal.
However, the court said it needed to offer clarifications with regard to some of the findings of the single judge’s order, as it “prima facie appears to be contrary to the law”.
“We will give the detailed order tomorrow,” it said.
The AAP leader had challenged a single judge’s order of April 29, by which Mr. Jaitley’s replication to the replies of Arvind Kejriwal, Ashutosh and four others, who are party in the civil defamation suit, was allowed and in which the BJP leader has allegedly made a fresh allegation.
The single judge had sought further response from the AAP leaders to Mr. Jaitley’s rejoinder. The order came on the AAP leader’s plea for striking off the purported new allegations Mr. Jaitley levelled in his replication.
Ashutosh’s contention
Mr. Ashutosh, represented by senior advocate H. S. Phoolka and advocate Peeyoosh Kalra, contended that by granting him an opportunity to respond to the replication of Mr. Jaitley, the single judge has “tangentially acknowledged” that the allegations objected to had been introduced for the first time by the BJP leader in his replication.
“It is submitted that the said statements never formed part of the plaint and were introduced for the first time,” Ashutosh’s appeal said.
The Union Finance Minister has sought Rs. 10 crore as damages from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai for issuing defamatory statements against him and his family in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) during his 13-year tenure as its president.