Delhi High Court Dismisses Petition Seeking Arvind Kejriwal’s Removal As Chief Minister

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has dismissed a plea seeking the removal of Arvind Kejriwal as Chief Minister after his arrest last month over corruption allegations. In a significant observation, a bench led by acting Chief Justice Manmohan said “Let democracy take its own course”.

“At times, personal interest has to be subordinate to national interest. But that is his (Kejriwal’s) personal opinion. If he does not want to do that it’s upto him. We are a court of law…Do you have any precedent that president’s rule or governor’s rule has been imposed by the court?” a division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan remarked.

The court rejected the PIL filed by Vishnu Gupta,  a social worker and National President of Hindu Sena. After some arguments, Gupta’s counsel said he has instructions to withdraw the PIL and to file a representation to the LG, LiveLaw reported.

Gupta’s counsel submitted that after the arrest of Kejriwal on March 21, there was an absolute lack of government in the national capital. He said that a constitutional deadlock had been created after the arrest.

The bench told the counsel that his remedy lies elsewhere and that he should approach the constitutional authorities. “This is a practical issue not a legal issue. We won’t go into this. We will declare that the government is not functioning? Governor is fully competent. He does not need our guidance. There is a discretion to take the call. Let’s not anticipate that they won’t discharge their functions. We can’t venture into this,” the bench said.

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