NEW DELHI: Former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday re-appeared before the Delhi High Court to point out the “direct and serious appearance of conflict of interest” on part of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, as he sought her recusal from hearing the liquor policy case.
He urged Justice Sharma to take on record his additional affidavit claiming that the judge’s children were empanelled as counsel for the Central government and that they receive case assignments from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. The judge agreed to take the document on record.
Kejriwal has also prayed for time to make further oral and rejoinder submissions, fearing that continuing the case before Justice Sharma might not carry the “full appearance of judicial detachment, independence and neutrality that the law requires.”
Meanwhile, in a written statement, the CBI opposed Kejriwal’s submission. Going by the AAP supremo’s logic, the probe agency noted, “all judges whose relatives are on the panel of either the state or Central government or any public sector undertaking will be disqualified from hearing the cases of the respective state governments, Central government, or the PSUs concerned.” It further alleged an “orchestrated social media campaign” against the judge.
The agency said misinformation carrying “wild insinuations” regarding government-panel work given to the judge’s children was being circulated on social media.
Also in court
BJP man moves HC for X content takedown
Senior Advocate and BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia on Thursday approached the Delhi HC for the takedown of certain content uploaded by an X user, alleging that it was in willful disobedience of an interim order passed in his defamation suit. Justice Mini Pushkarna noted the submission and issued notice to the user as well as X.
‘Mattoo convict to get objective treatment’
The Delhi High Court on Thursday assured Santosh Kumar Singh, life convict in the 1996 Priyadarshini Mattoo rape and murder case, that he would get “objective treatment” on the issue of his premature release, as it remarked that the sentence review board seemed to be proceeding on public perception.