CM seeks DDCA records, HC asks Jaitley to respond

New Delhi: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday sought summoning of the minutes of meetings of the DDCA between 1999 and 2014 in the Delhi high court which asked Union minister Arun Jaitley to respond to the plea. Joint registrar Pankaj Gupta issued notice to Mr Jaitley and sought his reply by July 28 on Mr Kejriwal’s application moved in connection with the Rs 10 crore defamation suit filed against him and five other AAP leaders by the BJP leader.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

The Delhi chief minister sought summoning of the minutes of the meetings held by the general body and the executive committee or board of directors of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) between 1999 and 2014. In his application, filed through advocate Anupam Srivastava, Mr Kejriwal said he wished to confront Mr Jaitley with these documents during recording of evidence on July 28 and July 31.

Central government standing counsel Amit Mahajan, appearing for Mr Jaitley, said the application has not been filed properly and a proper plea should be moved. Mr Mahajan was objecting to the prayer sought in the plea to “pass an order summoning the concerned officer from the DDCA with documents/ records as mentioned in paragraph 2 of the application”.

He said if a witness was being summoned, then a list of witnesses should be given first. Mr Srivastava admitted there was a default in the application as it appeared to be seeking summoning of a DDCA official, but said this was not the case. He said the application was worded in that manner as the documents being sought would have to be brought by someone.