New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (June 25) asked the Delhi high court to take a decision, without unnecessary adjournments, on the bail plea filed by former Delhi minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain
A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and S.V.N. Bhatti told the high court to take a call on the matter on July 9, the next date of hearing, the Deccan Herald reported.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Jain challenging the Delhi high court’s May 28 order adjourning the matter till July 9.
Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, who appeared on Jain’s behalf, argued that the former minister’s plea should be tagged with a similar matter pending before the Supreme Court on whether default bail can be deferred if an incomplete chargesheet is filed.
The Supreme Court, however, rejected this, saying that the issue was pending before a three-judge bench. “We are sitting in a combination of two judges. We cannot take a call on the three judges bench case. This is just a one line order to list on July 9,” the court said.
“The facts in the instant case have yet not been decided. The high court is yet to decide on merits. If the high court rejects the plea, then the Supreme Court is the remedy,” the bench added.
Singhvi reiterated his question on the high court’s six-week adjournment of Jain’s bail please. He argued that the Supreme Court has previously held that such cases have to be dealt within one week’s time, the report said.
“Let the high court decide and then we will take a call,” the bench said.
“We have heard the counsel for the petitioner…he submits that the question of law which would govern the decision of [the] high court is engaging [the] attention of this court and thus this matter be tagged with [the] Supreme Court case. We do not find merit in that submission as [the] high court is yet to take a call and if it takes a decision then a remedy is before [the] Supreme Court. It goes without saying that bail prayers are not unnecessarily adjourned and thus we hope and pray that HC takes a call in the matter when it is listed next,” the court said in its order.
The Enforcement Directorate had arrested Jain on May 30, 2022, on charges of money laundering through companies allegedly linked to him.
In May last year, the Supreme Court granted Jain interim bail for six weeks for spinal surgery. The court extended his interim bail by five weeks on July 24, 2023, and subsequently renewed it several times.
However, on March 18, 2024, the Supreme Court rejected Jain’s appeal against the dismissal of his bail plea. The court ordered him to surrender immediately after cancelling his medical bail, citing sufficient prima facie evidence of his involvement in a money laundering case.
