Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of delaying proceedings in the defamation suit filed against him and five other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) functionaries by the BJP leader.
The Finance Minister’s counsel sought an early hearing in the matter contending that irrelevant questions were asked by the counsel for Mr. Kejriwal during his cross-examination in the High Court.
“They are asking irrelevant questions and also wasting the court’s time. Why they are delaying the trial? We are seeking earliest dates possible because they [Mr. Kejriwal’s counsel] are in no hurry to conclude the cross-examination [of Mr. Jaitley],” senior counsel Sandeep Sethi and advocate Manik Dogra, appearing for Jaitley, told Delhi High Court Joint Registrar Rakesh Pandit.
Mr. Jaitley, who was present in court for the ninth round of questioning, maintained his calm and replied to 26 questions during the 1.5-hour hearing in the ₹10 crore civil defamation suit filed by him.
HC direction
Senior advocate Anoop George Chaudhari and advocate Anupam Srivastav, appearing for Mr. Kejriwal, said there was no need for early hearing and the court should give the next date as given in any other case.
The court has now listed the matter for February 2, 12 and 13 to continue Mr. Jaitley’s cross-examination.
The court was also informed by Mr. Jaitley’s counsel that earlier a single judge of the High Vourt had directed the Joint Registrar to expedite hearing of a defamation suit, which was challenged by Mr. Kejriwal and AAP leader Ashutosh before a Division Bench.
The Division Bench had dismissed the plea, questioning the decision of the single judge, saying it was “misconceived” and “devoid of merit” and that speedy trial was the “need of the hour”.
Mr. Jaitley has filed the defamation suit against Mr. Kejriwal, Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Mr. Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai for accusing him of financial irregularities in DDCA, of which he was the President from 1999 to 2013.
