Delhi High Court Extends Time For Kejriwal, Sisodia In Excise Policy Case

The Delhi High Court on Monday granted additional time to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, to respond to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) plea challenging their discharge in the Delhi excise policy case. The court has allowed the respondents until April 5 to file their replies and listed the matter for further hearing on April 6.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma clarified that the interim order issued earlier in the case will continue to remain in effect until the next hearing. The case involves a criminal revision petition filed by the CBI against the Rouse Avenue Court’s February 27 order, which had discharged all 23 accused, including Kejriwal and Sisodia, in the case related to the now-scrapped excise policy implemented by the former AAP-led Delhi government.

During the hearing, senior advocate N. Hariharan, representing Kejriwal, noted that the former Delhi Chief Minister has approached the Supreme Court through a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the High Court’s earlier order staying the trial court’s remarks against a CBI officer involved in the investigation.

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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, argued that the trial court’s decision to discharge the accused was unjustified and requested that the Delhi High Court examine the complete case record. He contended that the discharge order amounted to acquittal without trial and alleged that the excise policy had been manipulated to favour certain liquor traders in exchange for bribes.

The trial court, in its detailed judgment spanning over 1,100 paragraphs, had earlier concluded that the excise policy was the result of a consultative and deliberative process, rejecting allegations of a wider conspiracy. The CBI, however, maintains that the ruling was legally flawed and that the accused should face a proper trial.

The High Court had also stayed the trial court’s direction to initiate departmental action against a CBI officer and suspended remarks made against the investigating agency and its officers. Kejriwal has sought transfer of the CBI’s revision petition to a different bench, a request that the Delhi High Court Chief Justice had declined, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court.

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