Delhi HC fines Kejriwal for delayed response in Jaitley defamation suit

New Delhi The Delhi high court on Monday imposed a fine of ₹5,000 on chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for having delayed in responding in a ₹10 crore civil suit filed by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley over the use of objectionable words.

Joint registrar Pankaj Gupta directed the CM to deposit the fine with the Army Welfare Fund and posted the matter for October 12. Kejriwal’s former counsel Ram Jethmalani used the objectionable words against the minister during a May hearing in another defamation suit by the minister against Kejriwal and five others.

Taking in view that the written submissions have now been filed by Kejriwal, the HC asked Jaitley to file his response within two weeks. On July 28, the high court had imposed ₹10,000 fine on Kejriwal after he failed to file response on the second defamation suit.

The court had on May 23, sought Kejriwal’s response on why defamation proceedings should not be initiated against him. Jaitley had filed the second civil defamation suit claiming the objectionable word had caused him “permanent harm ”.

This is a separate case from the ongoing Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) defamation suit against Kejriwal and five other Aam Aadmi Party leaders that Jaitley filed in 2015.

Jaitley had said that Kejriwal and the others had made baseless allegations against him publicly. They had accused him of graft during his stint as DDCA chief.

On May 17, Jaitley and Jethmalani clashed in court with the Union minister taking strong objection to the word lawyer used during his cross-examination in the earlier defamation case.