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Nearly six months after he was arrested by the ED, and later by the CBI in the Delhi excise policy case, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal walked out of jail Friday — with legal shackles.
With bail conditions that do not give him complete freedom to perform his duties as Chief Minister, including the one that states he cannot visit the Secretariat or the CM Office or sign any files other than those that have to be cleared by the Lieutenant Governor, officials said the AAP government may have some problems in ensuring Kejriwal is able to discharge his duties as CM.
Justice Surya Kant, in his judgment, cited the “terms and conditions imposed by a coordinate bench of this Court… are imposed mutatis mutandis in the present case” – mutatis mutandis means that a rule or statement applies to a new situation after some modifications – referring to the May 10 and July 12 orders by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna Dipankar Datta granting Kejriwal interim bail in relation to his arrest by the ED in an alleged money laundering case connected to the excise policy case.
The bench had granted him interim bail first to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and then in the case per se, saying he “shall not visit the office of the Chief Minister and the Delhi Secretariat” or sign official files “unless it is required and necessary for obtaining clearance/ approval of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi”.
Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, in his judgment, stated that he had “serious reservations” regarding the conditions. “…In so far bail conditions are concerned, this Court in the ED case… has imposed several terms and conditions… debars the appellant from entering the office of Chief Minister and the Delhi Secretariat as well as from signing files”.
“…having regard to judicial discipline, I would refrain from further expressing my views thereon at this stage since those conditions have been imposed in the separate ED case by a two-judge bench of this Court,” he said.
A senior AAP leader said, “We are seeking legal opinion on whether this means that the CM cannot hold meetings with officials. His not being allowed to go to the Secretariat is not really a problem since even in the past, several meetings have been held at his home. In any case, there is always the option of Cabinet decisions being finalised through circulation – which means that the file will be moved, comments sought and ultimately sent to the Lt Governor for approval as per requirement.”
Three significant priorities immediately on the horizon for Kejriwal are a meeting of the Delhi Cabinet, the National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA) and a reorganisation of Delhi’s Council of Ministers to include former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in it.
One berth in the seven-member Cabinet is currently vacant after the resignation of Social Welfare Minister Raaj Kumar Anand earlier this year.
Bureaucratic sources said the bail constituted a grey area regarding the CM’s precise role moving forward.
“The CM does not have any portfolio, so no significant change is expected there as far as the administration of the Capital is concerned. But several important decisions are pending,” a senior government official said.
“Other functions such as the posting of IAS officers – as many as 10 were transferred to Delhi yesterday from various locations under the jurisdiction of the AGMUT cadre – is one of the most significant ones as it falls under the NCCSA chaired by the CM,” the official said.
With a bar on his visiting the Delhi Secretariat as well as the CMO, these, according to another senior official, would need to be done through file circulation.
“Almost all files pertaining to administrative decisions, especially those related to reserved subjects such as land, police and law and order, come to the L-G for approval. This will continue to be the case,” the official said.
“In the absence of the CM, the Chief Secretary has been forwarding these to the L-G Secretariat for approval after receiving such files from the ministers concerned and that is likely to continue. What remains to be seen is how the Delhi Cabinet — which too can take decisions through file circulation before sending them for the L-G’s approval — deliberates on such decisions,” the official said.
Following Kejriwal’s release, the AAP, in a statement, said, “Arvind Kejriwal is the Chief Minister of Delhi, who heads the Council of Ministers and oversees all the governance via the Ministers of various Departments. Arvind Kejriwal is fully empowered to give directions to all his Ministers, so that work can be done in public interest.”
“The only files that are signed by the Chief Minister are those that have to go to the LG, for which he has permission from the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Therefore, no work of the people of Delhi will stop,” it stated.
