HC seeks Jaitley's reply on Kejriwal's plea

The Delhi High Court on Monday asked Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to file his response on a plea by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to expunge remarks made against the latter by a trial court in a criminal defamation case.

Justice Mukta Gupta issued notice to Jaitley for his reply and posted the matter for July 13.

Jaitley had filed a criminal defamation case against Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party leaders Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee, alleging that they made "false and defamatory" statements regarding alleged corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association, thereby harming his reputation.

Jaitley was till December 2013 President of DDCA -- a post he held for almost 13 years.

The Finance Minister had also filed a civil defamation suit against the AAP leaders and sought Rs 10 crore in damages.

Kejriwal approached the High Court on Tuesday to challenge the trial court's remarks while dismissing his and other AAP leaders' application for a chance to be heard before the court decided on whether they should be put on trial in the criminal defamation complaint.

On January 30, while dismissing their application, the trial court had said that their plea was "bereft of any merit, mala fide and filed solely with a view to stall the proceedings".