'Heavy Costs Should Be Imposed': Delhi High Court On Third Plea To Remove Arvind Kejriwal From CM Post, Lists On Wednesday

The Delhi High Court on Monday listed for hearing on April 10 the plea moved by a former Aam Aadmi Party MLA Sandeep Kumar seeking removal of Arvind Kejriwal from the post of Chief Minister of Delhi.

Kejriwal is presently in judicial custody in an ED case relating to the excise policy.

Justice Subramonium Prasad said that heavy imposed should be imposed on Kumar and questioned him as to how can the writ of quo warranto be issued against Kejriwal.

The court said that since similar petitions have already been disposed of by a division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan, the matter must be also listed before the same bench.

This is the third plea seeking such a prayer. The previous two pleas have been rejected by a division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan.

Kumar states that he has approached the Court as a Court of first instance in writ jurisdiction by filling the writ petition, and not a PIL, in his individual capacity. He, a lawyer by profession, claims to be a founding member of the Aam Aadmi Party and a social worker.

The plea seeks issuance of a writ of quo warranto against Kejriwal by calling upon him to show by what authority, qualification and title he is holding the office of the Chief Minister of Delhi.

It further prays that after an inquiry, Kejriwal be dislodged from the office of the Chief Minister of Delhi, with or without the retrospective effect.

Kumar has claimed that by being a voter of the Delhi Assembly Election, he is personally aggrieved for having the Chief Minister for his Union Territory who has incurred an “incapacity to hold the post” and “who can never function as the Chief Minister from the custody or prison” as envisaged by the Constitution of India.

The plea states that Kejriwal has incurred incapacity to carry out his functions as the Chief Minister of Delhi under the Constitution and therefore, he cannot hold the post.

“Right to have a government in accordance with the Constitution is a Constitutional Right of every citizen and voter. The Petitioner is an electorate/voter/citizen of NCT of Delhi and therefore he has a constitutional right to have a government as provided by the Constitution and anything otherwise violates his Constitutional Right to have a representative government with the Chief Minister at the head of the Council of Ministers to aid and advise the Lieutenant Governor (Article 239AA(4)),” the plea states.

Kejriwal was arrested on the night of March 21. On March 22, the trial court remanded him to six days of ED custody, which was extended by a further four days. On April 01, he was remanded to judicial custody till April 15.

Earlier this month, the court refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the removal of Arvind Kejriwal from the post of Chief Minister. The PIL was filed by Vishnu Gupta, who is a social worker and National President of Hindu Sena.

Earlier, the bench dismissed a similar PIL observing that the petitioner, Surjit Singh Yadav, failed to show any bar in the law which prohibits the arrested CM from holding office.

The court had observed that there is no scope of judicial interference in the matter and that it is for the other Organs of the State to examine the issue.

Title: Sandeep Kumar v. Arvind Kejriwal and Others