The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government defended its decision to pay lawyer Ram Jethmalani from the State exchequer to fight a defamation suit filed by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over an alleged corruption case in Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) on Tuesday.
While addressing a Press conference here, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “This is a public matter .It was not the personal case of Kejriwal to defend his private land. So why should he pay the bills.”
“It was the Delhi Government who initiated enquiry against the corruption in DDCA. It was the Delhi Government who formed a committee to probe into the matter and make cricket in Delhi corruption free. People who are involved in the corruption have filed a defamation case. So it is appropriate for the Government to bear expenses of the case,” said Sisodia, who also holds the Finance portfolio in Delhi Government.
He, however, questioned the timing of raising the issue. “It is very interesting how this issue has come to the fore today. Jethmalaniji is fighting this case for the past one-and-half years now, but nobody talked about this issue. So why it is being raised now,” Sisodia said, adding it was a diversionary tactic from the issue surrounding faulty electronic voting machines (EVMs).
“They are only digging up the old cases to hush up their own wrong doings. They should answer what happened to the EVM tampering in the Uttar Pradesh elections,” he said.
Meanwhile, lawyer Ram Jethmalani who is also former Union Minister in NDA came to the rescue of Kejriwal. He stated his consent to defend Delhi CM for “free”.
last year, Sisodia had written to the General Administration Department (GAD) for the release of appearance fee to Jethmalani. As per the letter the amount of pending dues to the noted lawyer is said to be around Rs 3 crore.
However, the law department of the Delhi Government raised concerns over paying the bill and the matter was referred to lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal for his approval. As
per the reports Baijal is consulting Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar for his advice in clearing the bill.