Kejriwal, Sisodia move Delhi HC against Assembly’s privileges committee summons over faansi ghar inauguration; hearing on Tuesday
AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia have moved the Delhi High Court challenging the summons issued by the BJP-led Assembly’s Privileges Committee over the inauguration of a ‘faansi ghar’.
AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia have challenged the Delhi Assembly Privileges Committee’s summons over the ‘faansi ghar’ inauguration, calling it politically motivated.
The Delhi High Court will on Tuesday hear a petition by AAP national convenor and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the party’s former minister Manish Sisodia, challenging the summons and notices issued to them by the BJP-led Delhi Assembly’s Committee of Committee of Privileges.
The AAP leaders are also seeking a court direction calling for records and restraining the Committee of Privileges from proceeding further in relation to the notices and summons.
Listed before Justice Sachin Datta, the petition was filed on November 8 after the committee issued summonses to the two on November 4, calling on them to appear before it for verifying the “authenticity of faansi ghar”.
Earlier, they were issued notice, seeking an explanation, on September 9 — to which they had responded.
Kejriwal, then CM of Delhi, had in 2022 inaugurated a structure on the Assembly premises and claimed it to be a “British-era execution chamber”. In August this year, BJP MLA and speaker Vijender Gupta told the House that the structure was actually a “tiffin room” as per records. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had also accused the AAP government of misleading people.
Kejriwal and Sisodia, in their petition, have contended that such procedure is without jurisdiction and that the committee has not complied with procedural safeguards.
Notably, the committee is scheduled to meet at 3 pm on Thursday “to deliberate the matter regarding the faansi ghar”.
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In their petition, the two AAP leaders have highlighted that the proceedings, having been initiated more than three years after the incident “and only after a regime change strongly indicate that the privilege mechanism is being misused for political vendetta rather than for its constitutional purpose of protecting the functioning of the Legislature”.
“There is no act of defiance or obstruction to legislative business. On the contrary, the event in the previous Vidhan Sabha was part of the Speaker’s administrative prerogative. It is respectfully submitted that there is no allegation of contempt, obstruction, or breach of privilege,” the petition stated.
“The proceedings therefore lack the jurisdictional facts necessary to assume authority … the alleged act bears no functional nexus to legislative duties,” they submitted in their plea.
According to historians, it is “unlikely” that the two rooms in the Assembly building that were renovated in 2022 were a ‘faansi ghar’.
Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court
Professional Profile
Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express.
Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare).
Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others.
She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020.
With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram
Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)
Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles:
High-Profile Case Coverage
She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy.
Signature Style
Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system.
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