NEW DELHI (TIP): The Delhi High Court on June 21 commenced hearing on the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea challenging the trial court order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam.

A Vacation Bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain is hearing the arguments advanced by Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju on behalf of the ED. Thereafter, the court will hear arguments on behalf of Mr. Kejriwal’s lawyers.

The ED’s counsel sought a stay of the bail order, granted by a trial court on June 20, saying he was denied full opportunity to complete his argument by the trial court.

Commencing his arguments, the ASG argued that the trial court’s order, which has been made available today, is “perverse”.

The High Court on Friday said the trial court order shall not be given effect to till it hears the ED’s plea challenging the relief granted in the money laundering case.

The ED mentioned its plea for an urgent hearing before a Bench of Justices Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ravinder Dudeja, which said the case file will come before it soon and till then the trial court order shall not be acted upon.

Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, representing the ED, sought a stay on the trial court order contending that the agency was not given a proper opportunity to argue its case.

He said the trial court pronounced the order around 8 p.m. on June 20 and the order is not yet made available to them. Even after passing of the order when the ED lawyers urged the trial court to keep its order in abeyance for 48 hours to enable them to approach superior courts, the prayer was not considered, the ASG contended.

“I was not allowed to argue fully. I was not given proper time of 2-3 days to file written submissions. This is not done. On merits, I have an excellent case. The trial court said finish of in half an hour as it wanted to deliver the judgment. It did not give us full opportunity to argue the case,” the ASG contended, “I am making the allegations with full seriousness,” he added.

“Let the order be stayed and the plea be heard as early as possible. That order cannot be allowed to stand even for a day,” the law officer said.

Allegations made by the ED counsel ‘incorrect’: Kejriwal’s lawyers

The plea was opposed by senior advocates Abhishek Singhvi and Vikram Chaudhari, representing Mr. Kejriwal, submitting that the allegations made by the ED counsel were patently incorrect and it was astonishing that they cannot accept anything with grace.

“The noise and heat is not going to solve this problem,” Mr. Singhvi said.

He said there are 10 judgements of the Supreme Court which say cancellation or reversal of bail is radically different from grant of bail.

Advocate Chaudhari said, “This person (Kejriwal) was released by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court granted him liberty. This would be a travesty of justice. We are on caveat here and we should be given opportunity to be heard. We would address arguments. An ex-parte order of such a nature…”

To this, Justice Jain said, “File is coming to me in 10-15 minutes after proper numbering, thereafter, you can start your arguments. You can argue for as much time as you want to argue”.

The ED had arrested Mr. Kejriwal on March 21, shortly after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from arrest on his petition challenging summonses issued to him.

While pronouncing the order on Thursday, the trial court ordered Mr. Kejriwal’s release on a personal bond of ₹1 lakh and imposed certain conditions, including that he will not try to hamper the investigation or influence the witnesses.

On May 10, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to the AAP supremo till June 1 to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections, saying he will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2. Kejriwal had surrendered before Tihar jail authorities on June 2 and has been there since then.

Dictatorship has crossed all limits: Delhi CM’s wife

Responding to the development, the Delhi CM’s wife Sunita Kejriwal said, “Even before Kejriwal’s bail order was uploaded, the ED reached HC. They are behaving as if he is a terrorist.”

AAP leader Sanjay Singh accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making a mockery of the justice system after the Delhi High Court put on hold the trial court order granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal.

Taking to X, Mr. Singh said in a post in Hindi, “Look at the hooliganism of the Modi government, the trial court’s order has not yet come, even a copy of the order has not been received, so Modi’s ED reached the High Court to challenge which order? What is happening in this country? Modi ji, why are you making a mockery of the justice system? The whole country is watching you?” the AAP MP said.

(With inputs from PTI)