Day in HC: FM records his version, CM Arvind Kejriwal gets breather

NEW DELHI: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday appeared in Delhi high court to record evidence in support of his civil defamation suit against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders.
Jaitley recorded evidence and endorsed documents before a joint registrar court, even as lawyers for AAP leaders sought a long date citing unavailability of their counsel Ram Jethmalani.
Jaitley has filed a suit seeking Rs 10 crore damages against Kejriwal and five others accusing them of defaming him by their statements on alleged irregularities and financial bungling in DDCA during his presidency till 2013.
The senior BJP leader appeared in HC for the first time after he filed the suit last year. Appearing for the minister, senior lawyers Pratibha M Singh, Sandeep Sethi and Rajiv Nayyar submitted documents supporting the defamation suit following which the court fixed the matter for further hearing on March 6.
As per the procedure, the plaintiff will be cross-examined by lawyers of the AAP leaders on the basis of the suit filed and documents cited by him.
In response to plea by the AAP leaders for a longer date, Jaitley’s counsels opposed it and alleged that Kejriwal and five AAP leaders — Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai — were “unnecessarily delaying the matter”.
Meanwhile in a separate case, HC granted permanent exemption to Kejriwal from appearing in person before a trial court in a criminal defamation case filed by Amit Sibal, lawyer son of former union minister Kapil Sibal.