New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has denied before the Delhi High Court that he filed a false affidavit claiming he had not instructed his counsel to use derogatory words against Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.
Mr Kejriwal's response came in pursuance to the August 23 notice issued to him by Justice Manmohan on Mr Jaitley's plea seeking action against the chief minister for making a false statement during his cross-examination in a defamation suit against him and five other AAP leaders.
Mr Jaitley, who has filed a '10 crore defamation suit against Mr Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders, had moved a fresh application alleging that the chief minister had falsely denied that he had instructed his then senior lawyer to make derogatory comments. This was opposed by his former counsel Ram Jethmalani two days later.
The high court listed the matter for hearing on April 26. In his response filed through advocate Anupam Shrivastav, Mr Kejriwal has denied that he has committed any perjury or made any false statement supported by an affidavit under oath.
"It is denied that the senior advocate representing the defendant 1 (Mr Kejriwal) on instructions had used abusive, offensive and per se defamatory words against the applicant/ plaintiff (Mr Jaitley).
"On the contrary, the defendant No.1 had at no time instructed his counsels to use abusive, offensive or defamatory language against the applicant," he said.
The chief minister also submitted that the Bar Council Rules and the Advocates Act 1961 prohibits a senior advocate from taking instructions in any case directly from a client.
"Therefore no utterances of a senior advocate can be attributed to the instructions of the client unless they are received through the Advocate on Record (Instructing Counsel)," he said.
Mr Kejriwal said the Union finance minister's application was "completely baseless" and was filed with the sole motive of "attempting to overawe the judicial process" sought its dismissal with costs.
"It is denied that untrue averments have been made in the pleadings which would amount to committing perjury," he said.The HC had on August 23 sought Mr Kejriwal's response on the plea seeking that a criminal complaint be lodged against him for allegedly filing a false affidavit that he did not instruct his counsel to use derogatory words against Mr Jaitley.
During the cross examination on May 17, Mr Kejriwal's then counsel Mr Jethmalani had used offensive words against Mr Jaitley. Mr Jethmalani had stated in court that he had received specific instructions to use derogatory words against Mr Jaitley.
The application had stated in an interview on July 26, Mr Jethmalani reiterated his earlier statement that he had instructions from Mr Kejriwal to use the words.
