Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya has denied former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others' request to transfer the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s appeal against their discharge in an excise policy case. The CBI’s appeal will be heard by the currently assigned bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.
The request was denied through a communication issued by the high court’s registrar general Arun Bhardwaj on March 13. The CBI’s appeal is listed before Justice Sharma on Monday, who currently holds the roster dealing with cases involving MPs and MLAs.
Kejriwal, along with others, had written to Upadhyaya seeking the transfer of the case, claiming he had a “grave, bona fide and reasonable apprehension” that the hearing in the matter would not be impartial or neutral. The trial court discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others on February 27, concluding that it had no hesitation in holding that the CBI’s material did not even disclose a prima facie case.
Justice Sharma had observed that the trial court’s observations were “prima facie erroneous” while issuing notice in the CBI’s appeal. She had also stayed the trial court’s order directing departmental action against the CBI’s investigating officer.
