AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court on Friday refused to grant interim relief to CM Arvind Kejriwal and Rajya Sabha AAP MP Sanjay Singh. Both sought a stay on proceedings in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Gujarat University in the PM Modi Degree case until their revision plea was resolved.
Kejriwal and Singh appealed to the session’s court to revise the defamation case proceedings, contesting the summons issued by the metropolitan court. However, the sessions court declined their plea for interim relief while their primary application was pending.
Consequently, they opted to file a petition with the HC. After the HC’s rejection of the stay application, the issue was presented before the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court on Friday. Attorneys recorded the plea on behalf of both leaders, who were granted an exemption from their personal presence.
After the Metropolitan Court hearing, Kejriwal’s lawyer Om Kotwal said: “The court has not yet issued any bailable warrant. The court accepted our plea for exemption from personal presence and instructed us to record the plea, which we have done.” Further hearings are scheduled for August 31.
After the HC’s earlier decision to set aside the Chief Information Commissioner’s order on PM Modi’s degree, Piyush Patel, the registrar of Gujarat University, filed a defamation case against the two leaders.