HC refuses to wade into row over CM Kejriwal’s legal bill
The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to entertain a petition seeking to restrain the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government from paying nearly ₹3 crore to senior advocate Ram Jethmalani for appearing on behalf of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a defamation suit filed against him by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra said the issue raised through the petition was already pending before the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.
“The L-G is already looking into the matter. If the authorities are not taking any action against the issue raised by you, then you can move the court,” the bench said.
“There is no need for the court to interfere.”
The bench further asked them not to file unnecessary Public Interest Litigations and waste the court’s time. The petitioner, advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, later withdrew his plea from the court.
Srivastava had sought direction to the Delhi government and the L-G to refrain from making any payment from public money towards the December 1, 2016, invoice or any other bill raised by Jethmalani towards professional services rendered to Kejriwal in the defamation case.
It also sought a direction to the Delhi government and the L-G to immediately withdraw the December 21, 2016, file, which approved the legal bills of Jethmalani.
Jethmalani has been appearing for Kejriwal in the ₹10-crore civil defamation suit filed by Jaitley against Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders.
Jethmalani had earlier said that he was ready to represent Kejriwal in court for free, the after Delhi government sought L-G’s approval to foot the bill.
In December, Sisodia had asked for the release of appearance fee to Jethmalani. However, the Delhi government’s law department had said the bills could not be cleared without lieutenant governor’s approval.