The Supreme Court on May 13 refused to entertain a petition seeking the removal of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from office following his arrest and remand in the excise policy case.
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A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta refused the petition filed by Delhi resident Kant Bhati, who contended that Mr. Kejriwal was unable to perform his official functions.
The same Bench had granted Mr. Kejriwal interim bail for campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections on May 10.
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Mr. Bhati submitted that Mr. Kejriwal, as the head of Council of Ministers, was unable to aid and advice the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi “in relation to matters with respect to which the Legislative Assembly has the power to make laws” under Article 239AA of the Constitution.
He said the Chief Ministers of States have to also act as a liaison between the Governors and the Council of Ministers under Article 167.
The May 10 order of interim bail had barred Mr. Kejriwal from visiting the Chief Minister’s office or the Delhi Secretariat. He would not sign any official files.
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However, the court had allowed him to sign files if it was necessary to do so for obtaining clearance or approval of the LG.
The court dismissed the plea saying that Mr. Bhati did not have a legal right to raise the dispute.
“On propriety you may certainly have something to say but no legal right. Let the LG take action if he wants to....we are not inclined,” Justice Khanna told the petitioner’s counsel.