'Decide on bail plea': SC tells Delhi HC in Satyendar Jain case
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Delhi high court to avoid unnecessary adjournments on the bail plea filed by senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain, The Wire reported.
The former Delhi minister filed a plea challenging the Delhi high court’s May 28 order adjourning the matter till July 9.
A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and S.V.N. Bhatti asked the high court to decide on the matter in the next hearing on July 9.
Representing the AAP leader, Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi argued for tagging the former Delhi minister’s plea with a similar matter pending in the apex court regarding whether ‘default bail can be deferred if an incomplete chargesheet is filed’.
Rejecting the plea, the apex court said that 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 reportedly said.
The bench also added that “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.”
However, Singhvi raised the high court’s six-week adjournment of Jain’s bail plea, pointing out that the apex court previously held that ‘such cases have to be dealt within one week’s time’.
“Let the high court decide and then we will take a call,” the bench reportedly said.
After the Enforcement Directorate had arrested Jain on May 30, 2022, on charges of money laundering, the Supreme Court granted him bail in May last year for six weeks for spinal surgery.
Later on July 24, 2023 the court extended interim bail to him by five weeks, and subsequently renewed it several times, according to the report.
