In a significant setback for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Supreme Court on Monday refrained from issuing any interim directive against the stay ordered by the Delhi High Court on his bail release.
A vacation bench consisting of Justices Manoj Misra and S V N Bhatti adjourned the proceedings, indicating that they would revisit the matter on Wednesday in anticipation of the Delhi High Court’s decision on the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea for an interim stay.
During the session, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing CM Kejriwal, contested the stay granted by the Delhi High Court at the initial hearing.
Singhvi underscored the established legal principle that the standards for granting bail and canceling bail are distinctly different. He asserted that the court will not easily revoke bail once granted.
He further noted that the Delhi High Court issued the interim stay on the ED’s appeal despite not uploading the trial order granting bail and without recording any reasons.
Singhvi highlighted that the Supreme Court while reserving its judgment on Kejriwal’s plea challenging the legality of the ED’s arrest and subsequent remand, had explicitly allowed the liberty to approach the trial court for bail in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam.
In opposition, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the ED, argued that the trial court failed to review the relevant documents, a point noted in the contested bail order.
Mehta criticized the trial court’s decision as “perverse,” arguing that it did not satisfy the twin conditions under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for granting bail.
On 21 June, the Delhi High Court, responding to the ED’s plea, issued an interim direction to stay Kejriwal’s release.
The vacation bench of Justices Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ravinder Dudeja ordered that the bail should not be enforced until a full hearing was conducted.
Later that day, the High Court reserved its decision on the ED’s plea for an interim stay, stating it would issue a ruling within two to three days.
Previously, the ED had requested a 48-hour delay in the signing of the bail bond from the trial court following the pronouncement of the bail order.
However, the trial court firmly rejected the ED’s plea for a stay on its bail order, leading to the current legal impasse.
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