Excise case: Delhi High Court lists next hearing on May 4

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it will hear on May 4 the CBI’s petition against a trial court order discharging former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others in the liquor policy case.

Even as the AAP leaders boycotted the hearing before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, the judge granted them one final opportunity to file their replies.

After Justice Sharma dismissed their applications seeking her recusal in the case on April 20, Kejriwal and Sisodia wrote a letter to Justice Sharma earlier this week, stating they would not appear before her personally or through a lawyer

and would follow “Mahatma Gandhi’s path of Satyagraha”. Former AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak also wrote a similar letter to the judge on Wednesday.

During the hearing, Justice Sharma said the court was yet to receive the entire trial court record, including the last few orders passed by the trial court, and deferred hearing on the CBI’s petition until May 4.

“We will just call for the record and start hearing from Monday,” Justice Sharma said, directing that the record be summoned by tomorrow.

The court also noted that while several parties had filed their respective replies, some of the discharged accused persons were yet to do the same.

“(The court will) give them one more last and final opportunity to file reply. They will file by Saturday,” the court said.