Setback for Kejri in DDCA case
HC dismisses Kejriwal’s plea to summon minutes of meetings
The Delhi high court, on Tuesday, dismissed chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea to summon the minutes of the meetings of DDCA between 1999 and 2014 in a defamation suit filed by Union minister Arun Jaitley.
The joint registrar, Pankaj Gupta, declined to grant the relief sought by Mr Kejriwal who, along with five other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, is facing a Rs 10 crore defamation suit filed by the BJP leader.
Besides Mr Kejriwal, the five others are Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, and Deepak Bajpai. The AAP leaders had accused the BJP leader of corruption while he was the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) from 2000 to 2013.
Earlier during the hearing, Mr Jaitley had opposed Mr Kejriwal’s application saying that the AAP leader has been trying to delay the proceedings by filing “frivolous” pleas, including the current one.
The BJP leader had filed a defamation suit against the AAP leaders for allegedly levelling “defamatory” charges against him in connection with alleged irregularities in DDCA while he was its president.
The chief minister had sought summoning of the minutes of the meetings held by the general body, the executive committee, or the board of directors of the DDCA between 1999 and 2014. Mr Kejriwal is facing a separate `10 crore defamation suit filed by Mr Jaitley after the AAP leader’s former lawyer, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, used “scandalous words” while crossexamining the BJP leader.
Mr Kejriwal had later told the court that he had not instructed Mr Jethmalani to use such words against the minister. Mr Jaitley denied all the allegations by the AAP leaders in December 2015 and filed a civil defamation suit. He sought a Rs 10 crore damage from them and Mr Kejriwal, claiming that they had made “false and defamatory” statements in a case involving DDCA thereby harming his reputation.