The Delhi cabinet, on Tuesday, rejected the panel of lawyers proposed by the Delhi Police to represent the prosecution for the cases pertaining to the February riots. The move is expected to spark a standoff between the Arvind Kejriwal government and the BJP-ruled Centre.
The cabinet met to discuss the issue of appointment of prosecution lawyers for the Delhi riot cases in the High Court and the Supreme Court, and rejected the names proposed by the Delhi Police.
According to a statement from the Delhi government, the cabinet believes that the Delhi High Court has not considered the investigation conducted by the police into the riots to be impartial. In such a situation, to approve the panel of lawyers recommended by the police would not result in an impartial hearing of the cases, the cabinet said.
Lt Governor Anil Baijal had asked the Delhi government to decide soon on the appointment of lawyers for the riots cases.
The cabinet said in line with Baijal's view that the cases are extremely important and hence lawyers need to be appointed soon, it has directed the home department of the Delhi government to set up a panel of the best lawyers in the country and ensure that it is impartial. It said it had not accepted Baijal's advice to approve the Delhi Police's panel of lawyers.
In comments that could intensify the clash between the Delhi government and the Lt Governor, the cabinet said Baijal's repeated interventions in the issue of setting up of a panel of lawyers was unfortunate. It referred to the July 2018 judgment of the Supreme Court on delineation of powers in the national capital to say that the order clearly stated the Lt Governor should intervene in rare cases only. It said the appointment of lawyers did not fall into the category of rare instances and was a decision to be taken in the normal course. Hence, the Delhi government had the sole right to appoint lawyers, the cabinet said.
Delhi Police had sent a proposal regarding setting up of a panel comprising Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior lawyer Aman Lekhi and six others for 85 cases related to the riots in northeast Delhi in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court. The Delhi government had rejected the proposal and stated that its lawyer Rahul Mehra and his team was capable of handling the cases. However, Baijal objected to this decision and invoked his special powers to summon the relevant file. Baijal then wrote to Kejriwal, stating that the Delhi cabinet should take a decision on the matter at the earliest.
