Liquor policy case: Kejriwal, Sisodia, Pathak to be represented before Justice Jain

New Delhi: Former CM Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and another AAP functionary, Durgesh Pathak, will be represented in Delhi High Court by respective lawyers in proceedings related to the liquor policy.On Monday, Justice Manoj Jain noted that three ‘vakalatnama’ appeared to have been filed on behalf of the three unrepresented AAP functionaries, who had earlier boycotted the hearing before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.Justice Jain then deferred further hearing to await the presence of the counsel, considering that lawyers were abstaining from work in the high court, and listed for hearing on July 16

CBI

’s plea against a trial court order discharging 23 people in the liquor policy case.A ‘vakalatnama’ is an authorisation letter submitted by an advocate to represent a party in court.“If they have filed vakalatnama, on the next date, we can see which date can be given and a schedule can be drawn,” Justice Jain observed, as the court adjourned the matter.Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, urged that the matter be urgently taken up on Wednesday for fixing the hearing schedule before the summer vacation, but Justice Jain said the court was giving priority to matters concerning life and liberty.The excise policy case came before Justice Jain after Justice Sharma released it from her board earlier this month after initiating contempt action against Kejriwal, Sisodia, Pathak and others for their alleged “vilifying” social media posts against her.

When the matter was listed before Justice Jain on May 19, he had asked CBI to inform the AAP functionaries about the change of bench.On Feb 27, the trial court discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the case, ruling that it was wholly unable to survive judicial scrutiny and stood discredited in its entirety.CBI moved high court and, on March 9, Justice Sharma’s bench stayed the trial court’s recommendation on the initiation of departmental action against the CBI investigating officer in the case.While issuing notice to all 23 accused on CBI’s plea against their discharge, Justice Sharma said certain observations and findings of the trial court at the stage of framing of charges prima facie appeared erroneous and needed consideration.Subsequently, Kejriwal, Sisodia, Pathak and some other respondents sought Justice Sharma’s recusal in the case on an apprehension of bias and conflict of interest.After Justice Sharma dismissed their applications seeking her recusal in the case on April 20, Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak wrote to her, stating they would not appear before her personally or through a lawyer and would follow “Mahatma Gandhi’s path of Satyagraha”.On May 14, Justice Sharma initiated criminal contempt proceedings against them and other AAP functionaries for their “vilifying” social media posts against her and said that the matter would be sent to another bench.