In an affidavit filed through his counsel Manik Dogra, the Union Minister said that the plea was devoid of any merit as no sincere attempt was made to satisfy the grounds for condonation of the gross delay in filing the petition.
Terming it an attempt to delay the trial, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday opposed a plea in the Delhi High Court (HC), filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Deepak Bajpai, which challenged the lower court's order of summoning him in a criminal defamation case.
In an affidavit filed through his counsel Manik Dogra, the Union Minister said that the plea was devoid of any merit as no sincere attempt was made to satisfy the grounds for condonation of the gross delay in filing the petition.
He said the plea was filed after over one-and-a half years, which "establishes a clear case of malafide intentions and a sorry attempt to delay the trial".
The reply came during the hearing of a plea by Bajpai, who along with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders, was put to trial in a defamation case filed by Jaitley.
In his plea, Bajpai challenged the lower court order of summoning him and framing notice against him for the alleged offence of defamation. He also challenged the order by which his application seeking to be heard on the point of notice was rejected.
"The petitioner (Bajpai) has stated three events, which, according to him, have resulted in the delay in filing of the criminal revision petition. These include Punjab Assembly election, MCD elections of NCT Delhi, and the Bawana by-poll. It is submitted that the Punjab legislative election were held on February 4, the MCD elections on April 23, and the Bawana by-poll on August 23," the affidavit read.
Justice IS Mehta posted it for hearing on September 21.
Appearing for Jaitley, Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra contended that there was no urgency in the matter before the HC and the criminal revision petition was filed to stall or delay the ongoing trial in the case before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.
What jaitley said
In an affidavit filed through his counsel Manik Dogra, Jaitley said the plea was devoid of any merit.
He said the plea has been filed after over one-and-a half years, which “establishes a clear case of malafide intentions and a sorry attempt to delay the ongoing trial”.
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 "Arun Jaitley")
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