Kejriwal can’t use court for fishing enquiry: HC

Rejects his plea in defamation suit case

NEW DELHI, 23/04/2017: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal showing his inked finger after casting the vote for the MCD Elections in New Delhi on Sunday. Photo: R.V. Moorthy

Stating that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cannot be allowed to use the judiciary for a “roving and fishing enquiry”, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed his plea to summon the minutes of meetings of cricket body Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) between 1999-2014 in a defamation suit filed by Union Minister Arun Jaitley.

Joint Registrar Pankaj Gupta said it was not Mr. Kejriwal’s defence that he made the alleged defamatory statements based on the records he wanted to summon and hence cannot be allowed to lead evidence beyond what he had pleaded in his application.

“In view of the foregoing discussions, it can be held that it is nowhere the defence of the defendant 1 [Mr. Kejriwal] that he made the statements on the basis of the subject record. Therefore, the defendant 1 cannot be allowed to lead evidence beyond pleading.”