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Privilege panel proceedings ‘confidential’, can’t livestream: Delhi Assembly to Arvind Kejriwal
Earlier this week, the former Delhi CM confirmed his appearance before the committee to answer its questions on the “Phansi Ghar” row.
Kejriwal has pointed out that Justice Sharma’s son and daughter are empanelled as panel counsel for the Union of India. (File Photo)
The Delhi Legislative Assembly has denied former Chief Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal’s request to live-stream the Privileges Committee meeting scheduled for Friday, stating that the proceedings are “confidential” and cannot be broadcast.
Kejriwal, in a letter to the panel on Tuesday, confirmed his appearance before the committee on March 6 to answer its questions on the “Phansi Ghar” row and also demanded live-streaming of the proceedings.
“My appearance is without prejudice to my legal and constitutional rights, remedies, objections and contentions, all of which are expressly reserved. In the interest of transparency and public accountability, I request that the proceedings of the Committee in the present matter be live-streamed,” Kejriwal had said in his letter.
In a reply to his letter, the Deputy Secretary of the Delhi Legislative Assembly replied, “This is with reference to your letter… in response to the summons issued on 18.02.2026 vide which you have requested for live-streaming of proceedings of the Committee of Privileges… In this connection, I am directed by the Chairperson to inform that the proceedings of the Committee of Privileges are confidential and the Rules of Procedure do not permit for their live streaming.”
The communication also read that there is no precedence of the sitting of the Committee of Privileges being telecast in the Parliament or other states.
“The Chairperson (Pradhyuman Singh Rajput) has also expressed his surprise over your ignorance in this matter in spite of being a former member of this House for more than ten years, when numerous sittings of the Committee of Privileges were held but not even a single sitting was ever telecast/live streamed,” the letter stated.
The Privileges Committee is probing the controversy around ‘Phasi Ghar’, a purported British-era execution chamber in the assembly premises, that the previous AAP dispensation renovated and inaugurated in 2022.
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The row erupted last August after Speaker Vijender Gupta alleged that the former AAP government had falsely claimed that the Assembly premises contained a “phansi-ghar” and then renovated it, arguing that it was, in fact, a “tiffin room” used for carrying food and other items.
Apart from Kejriwal, the committee had also summoned three other AAP leaders — former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, former Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, and Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla — to appear before the panel in the matter.
Last month, the committee scheduled the final in-person appearances of the four leaders for March 6, along with the submission of their statements.
On January 6, the Privileges Committee had recommended that the House take appropriate action against Kejriwal, Birla, Sisodia, and Goel for failing to appear before it on the matter.
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Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh had, during the recent Winter session of the Delhi Assembly, stated that approximately Rs 1.4 crore was spent on the “non-existent Phansi Ghar” during 2022-23, as the Assembly issued fresh summons to Kejriwal and others in the matter.
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