Any Witness To Prove Your Great Reputation? Jethmalani To Jaitley

It is not only about Jaitley vs. Kejriwal anymore. The battle is drawn between two lawyers. One is in the role of Plaintiff who stepped into the witness box and another has put his gown for the defendant.

Ram Jethmalini, the veteran Senior Advocate who is appearing for the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to defend him against the defamation suit filed by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, ended his cross examination for the day by asking him “I put it to you that you have no reputation whatsoever, what do you have to say?”.

One of the question, though disallowed by the court, was put like this: “Since you are a Minister in the cabinet, the best character witness for you should be the Prime Minister himself. Do you intend to examine him?”.

Jethmalini also asked whether Jaitley filed this suit after consulting the Prime Minister Modi. The Veteran counsel also asked the Finance Minister whether he is examining any witness to show his ‘great reputation’, for which he assessed damages as 1o Crores.

The Cross examination revolved around the funding for the construction of the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi. Jethmalini said that Jaitley imposed the decision on organization that it does not accept any donor's donation or any donation from Government as he did not want any interference in the way the money has to be spent.

Jaitley said that most proposals mentioned were tentative and temporary and none of them were backed by definitive written submissions. Jethmalini also ‘confronted’ Jaitley with his own article which he wrote in the Indian Express, though the court marked it as ‘irrelevant’.

The cross examination will continue on May 17.

Kejriwal and others allegedly made defamatory allegations against Jaitley and accused his handling of the Delhi District Cricket Administration or DDCA as “corrupt”. Jaitely had run the DDCA as president for 13 years.