Kejriwal again demanded the removal of Justice Swarnakanta Sharma from the liquor scam case, filed another affidavit, raised the issue of the judge’s two children.
Arvind Kejriwal Vs Justice Swarnkanta Sharma: Arvind Kejriwal has again demanded the removal of Justice Swarnkanta Sharma, who is hearing the Delhi liquor scam case. The former Chief Minister of Delhi has once again filed a new affidavit in this regard in the Delhi High Court. In this, Kejriwal has raised the issue of the judge’s two children working with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Kejriwal said that the judge’s children work with the Solicitor-General, how will she be able to give orders against them?
Earlier, during the hearing on April 13, Kejriwal had said that Justice Sharma had participated 4 times in the program of All India Advocates Council associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. In such a situation, he should be removed from the case.
In the new affidavit, Kejriwal has raised the point that Justice Sharma’s children are panel lawyers of the Central Government. The cases are assigned to him by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Tushar Mehta is appearing as a lawyer on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the excise policy case. The affidavit said this gives rise to a ‘direct and serious possibility of conflict of interest’. Kejriwal said, ‘I say that in the present case, the respected Solicitor General of India is appearing before this honorable court on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation. They are opposing my recusal petition, and arguing the review petition filed against the acquittal order passed in my favour. I humbly say that this raises a direct and serious suspicion of conflict of interest. The same law officers and legal machinery who are representing the prosecution before this Hon’ble Court are also part of the same institutional arrangement under which Central Government cases and government business are handed over to the immediate family members of the Hon’ble Judge hearing the case.
Kejriwal has cited some documents obtained under the Right to Information (RTI). According to these documents, a considerable amount of legal work was entrusted to the judge’s son during the years 2023-2025. He says that these facts should have been brought out by the Solicitor General on the first date of hearing and not left to legal journalists or social media.
objection to order
AAP convenor Kejriwal has raised another important point in the affidavit. He said that even when his recusal petition was pending, the court passed effective orders in the main case. Kejriwal believes that as per judicial decorum, no punitive or effective order should have been given until the decision on the removal petition is taken. This has further deepened the disbelief in their minds that the matter is going in the predetermined direction. At the end of the affidavit, Kejriwal clarified that in a normal personal dispute, perhaps he would not have taken it so seriously, but in this case, where the highest law officer of the Center is appearing before the judge and the judge’s family members are taking advantage of the same mechanism. It is impossible for them to ignore the distrust there. He has again appealed to Justice Sharma to recuse himself from hearing this sensitive case.
Why did Kejriwal file a petition to remove the judge? Understand in 5 points.
- On February 27, the trial court had acquitted Kejriwal and 22 other accused in the excise policy case. This order was challenged by CBI, which is currently being heard by Justice Sharma.
- On March 9, Justice Sharma issued a notice and stayed the portion of the order that called for departmental action against the investigating officer.
- He also prima facie said that some of the observations of the trial court were wrong and directed the trial court to adjourn the PMLA (money laundering) proceedings.
- After this, Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Durgesh Pathak, Vijay Nair, Arun Pillai and Chanpreet Singh Riot filed an application for the removal of Justice Sharma.
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