Delhi HC allows joint application by Jaitley, Kejriwal for withdrawal of defamation suits

The Delhi High Court today allowed the joint application filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, to withdraw the defamation cases filed by Jaitley..On Sunday, Kejriwal and his party colleagues Raghav Chadha, Sanjay Singh, Deepak Bajpai and Ashutosh (who are defendants in the defamation suit) had sent individual apology letters to Arun Jaitley for levelling unfounded allegations of corruption against him..Jaitley had filed two civil defamation suits for Rs. 10 crore each. The first suit was filed against Kejriwal and his associates for making unsubstantiated allegations of corruption and the second suit was filed after Kejriwal’s then counsel Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani used objectionable words against Jaitley during the cross examination..The joint application under Order XXIII Rule 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure states that the plaintiff has accepted the apology by the defendants and in view, thereof, does not wish to prosecute these suits against the defendants..The application also prays that the apology letters tendered by Kejriwal and his associates, be taken or record by the Court..The Single Judge Bench of Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw (which was conducting the cross examination for the first defamation suit) and the Bench of Justice Manmohan (which was hearing applications in the second defamation suit), allowed the joint applications for withdrawal of the cases..Read Application: