SC declines urgent hearing to declare sit-in by AAP MLAs

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined the urgent hearing on the plea to declare the sit-in by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues as ‘unconstitutional’.

The plea against the sit-in by the chief minister would be listed for hearing after the summer vacations, the apex court said, as reported by news agency PTI.

The apex court's statement comes a day after the Kejriwal government was rapped by the Delhi High Court. The Delhi High Court had asked the AAP government who authorised the sit-in by at the lieutenant governor's office and observed that strikes are usually held outside an establishment or office and not inside.

The observation by a bench of Justices A K Chawla and Navin Chawla came



during the hearing of two petitions, one against the sit-in by Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal and the other against the alleged strike by the IAS officers of Delhi government. "Who authorised the strike/dharna (sit-in by Kejriwal)? You are sitting inside the LG's office. If it's a strike, it has to be outside the office," the court told lawyers appearing for the Delhi government in the two matters. It further said, " You can’t go inside someone’s office or house and hold a strike there".

Apart from the two petitions, a separate plea was moved by Leader of Opposition in the Delhi assembly Vijender Gupta against the sit-in by Kejriwal at Lt Governor Anil Baijal's office. The matters are likely to be heard on June 22.