As the Supreme Court granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan in his judgment said he had “serious reservations” with the clauses that Kejriwal cannot enter the office of the Chief Minister or sign files, stipulations that have been mentioned in the final order of the two-member bench of Bhuyan and Justice Surya Kant.
This issue has become a big political debate now with the BJP demanding Kejriwal’s resignation, saying he cannot perform the duties of the Chief Minister as per the Supreme Court’s conditions while granting him bail. The final order of the two-member bench has included bail conditions set out by another Supreme Court bench while giving Kejriwal interim bail earlier on two occasions in an Enforcement Directorate case – that he cannot enter the office of the Chief Minister or sign files.
“This Court in the ED case i.e. in Criminal Appeal No.2493 of 2024 has imposed several terms and conditions including clauses (b) and (c) vide the orders dated 10.05.2024 and 12.07.2024 which have been incorporated in clause (d) of paragraph 47(ii) of the judgment delivered by Justice Surya Kant,” Justice Bhuyan’s judgement stated.
“Though I have serious reservations on clauses (b) and (c) which debars the appellant from entering the office of Chief Minister and the Delhi Secretariat as well as from signing files, having regard to judicial discipline, I would refrain from further expressing my views thereon at this stage since those conditions have been imposed in the separate ED case by a two-judge bench of this Court,” Justice Ujjal Bhuyan noted in his judgement.
WAS HEMANT SOREN SMARTER?
Interestingly, no such conditions were fixed for Hemant Soren by the Jharkhand High Court while granting him bail on June 28 as he was no longer the Chief Minister then. Soren had resigned as the Chief Minister before being arrested by the ED on January 31 this year in a land scam case. Soren subsequently became the Chief Minister after his release, replacing Champai Soren.
However, Arvind Kejriwal chose not to resign as the Chief Minister after being arrested by ED on March 21 this year and continued in the post even while he was in jail. The Supreme Court, while granting him bail in the ED case earlier this year, hence imposed conditions like him not going to the Chief Minister’s office or signing any files.
The same has been recorded now in the two-bench order of the Supreme Court in the CBI case while granting him bail.
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