New Delhi:Delhi High Court today sought the reply of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea to stay the proceedings before a trial court in a criminal defamation case filed against him and five other AAP leaders.

Justice P S Teji issued notice to the union minister on the plea challenging the trial court’s May 19 order by which it had turned down the chief minister’s request to adjourn hearing on a criminal defamation case before it, till the high court decided the civil suit before it.

“Notice to the respondent (Jaitley). Let the reply to the petition be filed,” the court said, adding that “the matter is fixed for arguments on July 21”.

Kejriwal, who was represented through senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, submitted that there were two cases — one civil and the other criminal — filed against the AAP leaders on the same allegations and the trial court should have stayed the hearing in the matter, but had declined.

“The trial court in its order had said that it has no jurisdiction to decide the same and has listed the matter for arguments on July 16,” Jethmalani argued.

“The magistrate’s order is bad in law,” he said, adding that he had told the trial court to adjourn the matter so that he can approach the High Court in this regard as he does not want to face both the cases simultaneously.

Opposing the contention, senior lawyer Siddharth Luthra, representing Jaitley, said the AAP leaders were trying to derail the proceedings before a trial court which has rightly rejected their request.

Jaitley has filed a criminal defamation complaint alleging Kejriwal and five AAP leaders — Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai — had allegedly defamed him in the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) controversy.

On April 7 the trial court had granted bail to Kejriwal and others after they had appeared before it.

Jaitley had on December 21, 2015 filed the criminal defamation case against the AAP leaders and sought their prosecution for offences that entail a punishment of up to two years in jail.

Besides the criminal defamation case,

Jaitley has also filed a civil defamation suit in the High Court seeking Rs 10 crore in damages from Kejriwal and the five AAP leaders for issuing allegedly false and defamatory statements against him and his family in connection with alleged irregularities in DDCA when he was its president.

Yesterday, Kejriwal and the AAP leaders counsel had denied the allegations before the high court and submitted that whatever was said against the Union Minister was in public domain and they had not said anything defamatory against Jaitley.

The high court had then framed issues against all the six AAP leaders and fixed the matter for September 27 before the Joint Registrar to decide whether any defamatory statements were made by them.

In a civil suit, when one party affirms and other party denies a material proposition of fact or law, it is only then that issues arise.

PTI