Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday told a court that he wanted to appear before it in connection with an application moved by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise policy case but the budget session, including a floor test, was underway.
“Main court aana chahta tha lekin ye ekdum se floor test aa gaya. Hamara budget session March first week tak chalega, aap uske baad case laga le. Main appear ho jaaunga (I wanted to come to court but this floor test came up suddenly. Our budget session is till the first week of March. You can give me a date for after that and I will appear),” said Kejriwal who appeared before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Divya Malhotra via video conferencing.
The court accepted the request put forth by the Delhi chief minister and posted the matter for further hearing on March 16.
Senior Advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Kejriwal, argued that his appearance in court will cause hardship to everyone. “Also, there is a budget session going on in the assembly and there is a floor test as well. But he will appear before the court in person,” Gupta argued.
On February 7, the court had issued summons to Kejriwal to appear before it on February 17 after he skipped a series of summons by the Enforcement Directorate.
The ED, in its plea, stated that Kejriwal is a high-ranking public functionary and thus, is expected to obey the law. The agency further said if persons holding such high officers disobey the law, then it will set a wrong example for the common man.
In its complaint, the ED had said that instead of attending the summons, Kejriwal raised frivolous objections and deliberately created grounds which clearly show that the chief minister intentionally did not want to obey the summons.
Comments
0 comment