Place before CJI: Supreme Court to Arvind Kejriwal request to list plea for interim bail extension

A vacation bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to pass any direction to list Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea seeking extension of his interim bail by one week in the Delhi excise policy case..The bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice KV Viswanathan said the Chief Justice of India (CJI) would take a call on the listing since the application for extension of bail has been moved in a case in which the judgment has already been reserved.The top court on May 17 had reserved its verdict on Kejriwal's plea against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED)."This is heard and reserved matter. We cannot do anything. This matter was heard and reserved on May 17. Place before CJI for appropriate orders," the Court said today..Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, earlier mentioned the application for urgent listing considering that the Chief Minister is required to surrender on June 1 in the money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED)."Only 7 days extension. This is just a medical extension and not abuse of liberty," Singhvi submitted.However, the Court said only the CJI can take a call on the listing. It further asked why the application was not mentioned before Justice Dipankar Datta who was heading a vacation bench last week.It was a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Datta which had on May 10 granted interim bail to Kejriwal till June 1 so that he can campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.In response to the Justice Maheshwari's query today, Singhvi said the prescription was given only day before yesterday and that is why the application could not be moved last week.The Court reiterated that it can't take a decision about the listing and referred the matter to CJI for an appropriate order..Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21.The ED’s probe against Kejriwal stems from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2022 on a complaint made by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena.It has been alleged that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by AAP leaders, including Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others to create loopholes in the Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-22 to favour some liquor sellers.