The Delhi high court on Wednesday came down heavily on multiple petitions seeking removal of Arvind Kejriwal as the chief minister of Delhi since his arrest in the liquor policy case.
Hearing yet another plea, the court said once it has dealt with the issue and opined that it fell in the executive domain, there should not be any "repeat litigation" as it was "not a James Bond movie that will have sequels."
A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan slammed petitioner Sandeep Kumar, a former AAP MLA, who sought the removal of Kerjiwal from the office.
It imposed a Rs 50,000 penalty on Kumar for trying to involve the court in a "political thicket".
"This is not like a James Bond movie where we will have sequels. (Lt) Governor will take a call on this. You are trying to involve us in a political thicket, that's all," remarked the court.
Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforecement Directorate on March 21, hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency. He is currently lodged in a high-security cell at the Tihar jail.
Several petitions have been filed in the court seeking Kejriwal's removal from office. The AAP convenor has not yet quit as the Delhi CM despite being in jail.
The bench, also comprising Justice Manmeet P S Arora, reiterated that it cannot impose governor's rule in the capital.
Observing that the petitioner was "making a mockery of the system", the court said, "Rs 50,000 costs on you. We will pass the order."
On March 28, the court had dismissed a PIL for Kejriwal's removal, saying that while the petitioner had failed to show any legal bar that prohibited the arrested chief minister from holding office, there was also no scope for judicial interference in such cases as it was for the other organs of the State to look into the issue.
On Wednesday, Kumar's counsel argued that his case required interpretation of the Constitution and that on account of his arrest in a money laundering case, Kejriwal was now not qualified to hold the office of the chief minister.
Justice Manmohan said if there was a grievance, an appeal should have been filed against the earlier decisions instead of filing a third petition on the same issue.
As the petitioner's lawyer continued to argue and questioned where he must go if the government was not according to the Constitution, the court told him not to make political speeches.
"Please don't give a political speech here. Go to a corner of the street and do it over there. Please don't do that. Your client may be a politician and he may like to get involved in politics but we are not involved in politics. We stay out of politics," said Justice Manmohan.
"You are making a mockery of the system. Don't reduce us to a joke. It is only because of people like you, your client, that we are reduced to a joke. We are imposing some heavy costs on you. Please don't come back with repeat litigation," added the judge.
The court further said the petitioner was "persisting" in spite of the remarks made by a single judge while dealing with his petition earlier this week and said imposition of costs was the only way to "take care" of the petitions that are coming up on a "daily basis".
"This is enough. Look at the court. The court is packed with litigants. Have some courtesy," the court said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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