Aastha Thakur
Published on: 10 August 2022 at 22:12 IST
Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been moved in the Delhi HC seeking dismissal of Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Satyendra Jain from the post of Member of the Legislative Assembly and apparently the Minister in Government of NCT of Delhi.
The minister was arrested past month in a money laundering matter. As per plea filed before the Court the cabinet minister in the Delhi Government and MLA from the Shakur Basti Assembly Constituency, has declared himself physically unfit by stating he has lost his memory and the same has been reiterated before the trial court by the Additional Solicitor General.
The PIL has been listed before the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad for hearing on August 16.
Last month, the plea was dismissed by the same court filed for his disqualification after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the matter of money laundering. However, the Court denied to pass such directions stating its beyond the jurisdictional power of the Court and wholly lies as per the discretion of the Chief Minister to keep him in the Cabinet despite his criminal background or not.
The Complaint submitted before the Court stated that the Delhi Government is clearly violating the Provisions of the Constitution of India under Article 191 (1)(b) which clearly states ‘a Person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council of State if he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court.’
The plea, filed through lawyer Rudra Vikram Singh, stated that in response to Mr Jain’s bail application before the trial court, the ED informed that the AAP leader has “accepted that he had lost his memory due to severe Covid” and “the news of losing the memory is covered by all media sources and it is very much in the public domain“.
Hence, the petitioner asked the court to direct Delhi Government to declare all of his decisions to be invalid after developing Covid and losing his memory.
The petition further said that Satyendra Jain is maintaining a important post in government of the NCT of Delhi. He is in his official capacity is sanctioning many decisions and signs lots of document and orders. Now, he has admitted to have not in his sound mind, it is possible that someone will exploit his mind to gain undue advantage, ultimately impacting the Delhiites.
The Court is going to listen to the argument on August 16, 2022.
