The Supreme Court has asked the Delhi government whether Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cannot sign the order for the release of prisoners while he is in jail. The Supreme Court asked whether there is any order prohibiting the Chief Minister from doing so? The Supreme Court asked this question when it was reported that the process of ‘premature release’ was delayed due to the lack of the Chief Minister’s signature.
According to Bar and Bench, a bench of Justice A.S. Oka and Justice A.G. Masih heard the matter on Friday. Justice Oka asked the Delhi government’s lawyers, ‘Is there a ban on Kejriwal signing the premature release files while he is in custody?’ ASG Aishwarya Bhati and senior advocate Archana Dave said that there is no precedent for this and they will take instructions and inform the court.
Justice Oka said that if this does not happen, the Supreme Court will have to exercise the powers given to it under Article 142 of the Indian Constitution, because these cases cannot be stalled like this. The court asked ASG Bhati to take instructions from the state government and listed the case after two weeks. The court also said that due to the absence of the Chief Minister’s signature, these files containing the apology are not being sent to the LG for further action.
Delhi government lawyers informed the court that the Supreme Court has reserved the decision on Kejriwal’s bail plea. It is worth noting that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is in jail since March 21 due to the alleged liquor scam, when the ED arrested him. He has got interim bail in this case. Before the interim bail in the ED case, he was also arrested by the CBI. After hearing his bail plea in this case, the decision has been reserved.