Arvind Kejriwal’s bail: Supreme Court terms Delhi HC’s stay order ’unusual’, says ‘judgment should have been...’

The Supreme Court of India on Monday, June 24, reserved its order on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea opposing the Delhi High Court's stay on bail granted by a trial court in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy. The apex court said it would like to hear the Delhi High Court's verdict and scheduled the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's bail plea hearing for June 26.

The Delhi High Court had paused Arvind Kejriwal's release on Friday after the trial court granted him bail on June 20.

The Supreme Court's vacation bench pointed out that the Delhi High Court had instructed the investigative agencies to submit written arguments by June 24, with a decision expected shortly after that.

What SC said about Delhi HC stay on Kejriwal's bail

-The Supreme Court flagged the Delhi High Court's order to stay CM Kejriwal's bail as ‘unusual’. “In stay matters, judgments are not reserved but passed on the spot. What has happened here is unusual,” Bar and Bench quoted the SC vacation bench as saying.

The vacation bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti stated that if the petitioner believed the high court erred in granting the stay on the interim order, it would not repeat that error.

-“Order on stay application was reserved until the lower court order granting bail was stayed. Parties were given the opportunity to file short submissions by 24 June. The Additional Solicitor General (ASG) says the order on stay application will be passed shortly, and this requests an adjournment. We deem it appropriate that the case be listed the day after, and if the high court passes an order, then let that be brought on record,” the court ordered.

What CM Kejriwal's lawyer said

Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing Arvind Kejriwal, requested lifting the interim stay on the bail order. Singhvi argued that CM Kejriwal poses no flight risk and urged the bench to suspend the high court's decision before it is finalised.

"I know what I am asking. This court must stay the high court order before it is being pronounced just like the high court had stayed the bail order on mere mentioning by the Enforcement Directorate," he submitted.