Supreme Court defers hearing on Arvind Kejriwal's plea against stay on bail

A vacation bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti said it would like to wait for the pronouncement of the high court order on the issue.

The Supreme Court on Monday deferred hearing on Arvind Kejriwal's plea against Delhi high court's interim stay on his bail granted by a trial court. The matter will now be heard on June 26.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been in custody since March 21 following his arrest by ED (File Photo)

A vacation bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti said it would like to wait for the pronouncement of the high court order on the issue.

The Enforcement Directorate has challenged the trial court's order granting bail to Kejriwal, in the Delhi high court.

Last week, the Delhi high court stayed the implementation of the lower court's order till it pronounces its verdict.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Arvind Kejriwal, argued why can't the Delhi chief minister stay free till the high court decides on the Enforcement Directorate's plea. He said the CM has a bail order in his favour and he is not a flight risk.

ASG SV Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate, told the Supreme Court that the order of the high court will come in a day or two.

The Supreme Court observed that if it passed an order today, it would be pre-judging the issue. "It is not a subordinate court, it is a high court," it added.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, would have walked out of the Tihar jail on Friday had the high court not granted the interim stay to the agency.

After spending over two months in jail, Delhi's Rouse Avenue court granted Kejriwal bail in the liquor policy case on Thursday. On Friday morning, ED moved the high court.

The Delhi high court, however, stayed the trial court's order till it decides on ED's plea.

"Till pronouncement, the operation of the impugned order shall remain stayed," the high court's vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar said.

The bench added it would take 2-3 days to pronounce the order on ED's stay application.

In the high court, additional solicitor general SV Raju had termed the trial court order granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal "lopsided, perverse and one-sided".

"Matter has been decided without considering the documents. Without considering the documents, how can you come to the conclusion that they are relevant or irrelevant," he had said.

With inputs from PTI, ANI