Arvind Kejriwal has been sued by Congress leader Kapil Sibal's lawyer son Amit Sibal.
Delhi High Court has decided to hear Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea seeking the quashing of a defamation complaint filed against him by former Union Minister Kapil Sibal's lawyer son Amit Sibal in February. Arvind Kejriwal's counsel referred to the November 17 order of the Supreme Court, which had remanded the matter back to the Delhi High Court asking it to decide on the plea, and told Justice I S Mehta that the HC would now have to hear the matter on merit.
"Now the high court will have to hear the matter on merits and decide the issue," Chief Minister Kejriwal's counsel said after which the court directed that the matter would be listed for hearing on February 16, 2017.
The counsel also informed the HC that a trial court was hearing the case.
The SC has made it clear that the trial court would continue to hear the defamation suit against Arvind Kejriwal and other even as it referred the matter back to the Delhi HC.
The clarification regarding the continuance of the trial court proceedings was made when Amit Sibal's lawyer had expressed apprehension that Kejriwal and others may use this to seek a stay of the pending proceedings.
Amit Sibal had filed the defamation complaint against Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan for alleging a conflict of interest on his part.
The high court had in its order on January 16, 2014, asked the trial court to consider the pleas of Arvind Kejriwal and others seeking discharge from the defamation case. It had also refused to quash the defamation proceedings against them.
Arvind Kejriwal had held a media conference on May 15, 2013, alleging the conflict of interest on Amit Sibal's part, saying he had appeared in the court for a telecom firm when his father was the communications minister.
Following the accusation, Amit Sibal had filed the defamation complaint. The trial court had then issued summonses to them on July 24, 2013.