SC set to hear Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's plea against arrest
New Delhi (PTI): A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will on Friday hear Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy-linked money laundering case.
As soon as a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud assembled, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, mentioned the matter for urgent listing.
Singhvi said he was mentioning a matter of "some significance and urgency".
"If this process goes on, I am very sorry to say, before the first vote is cast, a lot of senior leaders will be behind bars. I am imploring your lordships to take it up urgently either in the middle of the board or the end of the board," Singhvi said.
Justice Chandrachud said a special three-judge bench is convening in Justice Sanjiv Khanna's court, and Singhvi can mention the matter before that bench.
"The special bench is over, almost," the senior counsel said.
"Then you can go right away to Justice Khanna and it will be taken up," the CJI said, adding, "Just go to that bench because that bench is available".
"You can just mention that the Chief Justice has assigned it to Justice Sanjiv Khanna's court," Justice Chandrachud told Singhvi.
Singhvi then rushed to Justice Khanna's court but the special three-judge bench also comprising Justices MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi, which had assembled to hear BRS leader K Kavitha's plea challenging her arrest in the Delhi excise policy scam case and the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), was over by that time.
The senior counsel mentioned the matter before Justice Khanna, who was sitting in the regular bench along with Justice Dipankar Datta.
Singhvi said the CJI has asked him to mention Kejriwal's plea before Justice Khanna's bench.
Justice Khanna said Kejriwal's plea will be heard by a three-judge bench.
"We will assemble after the regular bench gets over in a while," Justice Khanna said.
Kejriwal had moved the Supreme Court late Thursday after the ED arrested him.
He was arrested hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection to the AAP national convenor from any coercive action by the agency.
A high court division bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait had refused to grant Kejriwal the relief of interim protection from coercive action and listed his application seeking the relief for consideration on April 22, when his main petition challenging the ED's summons has been fixed for hearing.
The high court had also asked the ED to file its response to Kejriwal's application seeking protection from coercive action.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Unruly scenes witnessed in Punjab Assembly
Chandigarh (PTI): The Punjab Assembly on Friday witnessed high drama on Friday after Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira made an allegedly objectionable remark against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during an intense argument over the alleged use of mobile phone in the house by the legislator.
During the one-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha here, Mann accused Khaira of using a mobile phone when Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan was reading out an official resolution on the revision of wages.
After rising from his seat, the chief minister pointed to the speaker, claiming that Khaira is busy on his mobile phone and urged him to ask the Congress MLA what Sandhwan had said about the resolution.
The speaker then asked Khaira to maintain order in the house and listen to the resolution carefully.
Mann then asked Khaira, "Why don't you go out and then use it (mobile phone)," which led to a strong verbal altercation during which the opposition MLA hurled an accusation against the chief minister. Meanwhile, the speaker appealed for order and insisted that the chair be addressed.
However, both Mann and Khaira continued arguing and could be seen pointing fingers at each other as the proceedings of the house were disrupted.
The AAP MLAs also rose from their seats with Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema condemning Khaira for his conduct and demanded action against him.
Cheema further alleged that Khaira "always tries to disturb the house" as he spoke about his conduct in the assembly.
The incident occurred as an official resolution on the revision of wages was presented at the special session by Labour Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond who said it paid homage to labourers on the International Workers' Day.
"Workers are the axis of construction of the nation, the community, the state and society. Every construction project succeeds only through their blood and sweat," the resolution read.
As per the resolution, "The base rate of minimum wages for the working class in Punjab was last revised in the year 2012. Although the dearness allowance has continued to increase since 2012, there has been no increase in the base rate of minimum wages.
On this sacred occasion of May Day, in this special session of the legislative assembly, this house proposes to revise and increase the minimum wages of labourers and strongly recommends to the government to take a decision regarding the increase of minimum wages for workers, so that the contributions of the workers can be acknowledged." PRK
