The Supreme Court on Monday refused to pass an immediate order to revoke the Delhi High Court’s decision to suspend Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s bail. The apex court, while orally observing that the High Court’s approach was “a bit unusual”, advised the Chief Minister to wait for the High Court order.
A vacation bench comprising Justices Manoj Misra and SV Bhatti was hearing the plea of Arvind Kejriwal challenging the stay of bail issued by the Delhi High Court in the liquor policy case. The High Court stayed the bail granted to Kejriwal by a lower court on the request of the Enforcement Directorate and said he would pronounce the order on June 25.
Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singvhi and Vikram Chaudhary, appearing for Kejriwal, said the Delhi High Court did not wait for the trial court’s bail order before staying it.
“If the High Court can stay it without seeing the order, why can’t your Lordships stay the order of the High Court,” Singhvi argued.
To this, Justice Misra said, “If the High Court has made a mistake, should we repeat it?”
Singhvi further claimed that the suspension of bail order was unprecedented and stated that Kejriwal was not a flight risk. The court indicated that the final order could be expected imminently and advised all parties to wait patiently. Given this, Singhvi expressed concern over the loss of time after getting bail.
“Why can’t I be free in the meantime? I have a ruling in my favour,” Singhvi argued.
The court noted that while the High Court’s stay was “unusual” as such orders are made “on the spot” immediately after hearing and are not reserved, passing the order now would mean “prejudging the issue”.
“If we pass an order now, we will be prejudging the issue. It is not a subordinate court, it is a High Court,” Justice Misra said.
The Delhi High Court will pronounce its order on Tuesday, June 25 at 2.30 pm. The Supreme Court will accept Kejriwal’s plea a day later on June 26.
