'Phansi ghar' row: Kejriwal, Sisodia not cooperating with privilege committee, says Assembly Secretariat to HC

New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI) AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, who have challenged the summons issued to them by the Delhi Assembly's privileges committee over the 'phansi ghar' issue, were non-cooperative with the panel, the assembly secretariat claimed in the Delhi High Court on Monday.

The counsel for the assembly secretariat argued that despite the issuance of summons, Kejriwal and Sisodia have not appeared before the committee even once, citing that their petition is pending in the court.

After the BJP came to power in Delhi in February this year, Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta had told the House that the British-era structure, which was renovated and inaugurated in 2022 by then chief minister Kejriwal as a “phansi ghar” (execution room), was actually a “tiffin room” as per records.

He alleged that falsehood was spread on the issue and referred the matter to the privileges committee.

"There is constant non-cooperation on behalf of petitioners (Kejriwal and Sisodia). They have not appeared before the Privileges Committee even once. This is their conduct," senior advocate Jayant Mehta, representing the assembly secretariat, submitted before Justice Sachin Datta.

The judge clarified that the court has not passed any interim order in the matter.

Mehta said that despite making a statement before the court that they are not pressing for interim relief, the petitioners have not appeared before the committee and have sought to defer their presence by citing the pending petition.

The court listed the matter for hearing further arguments on December 12.

The Delhi Assembly's Committee of Privileges, looking into the previous AAP government's 'phansi ghar' claims, had summoned senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Ram Niwas Goel and Rakhi Birla, asking them to appear in person on November 13 before it. Thereafter, they were asked to appear on November 20.

Kejriwal and Sisodia have approached the high court challenging the summons, saying that the notice showed that the proceedings are not founded on any complaint or report, nor is their reference to a motion of breach of privilege or contempt.

Their petition said the reference to the committee appeared to be for verifying "authenticity" -- a function beyond the remit of the Delhi Legislative Assembly and especially its privileges committee, that too for the next Vidhan Sabha.

"The proceedings suffer from lack of jurisdiction, procedural illegalities, constitutional infirmities and colourable exercise of legislative power. They violate the fundamental rights of the petitioners under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution and are liable to be quashed," the plea said.

The assembly had earlier termed the petition as misconceived and argued that it was not a notice for breach of privilege, but was only for assisting the privileges committee in ascertaining the authenticity of ‘phansi ghar’ and giving those facts to the committee.

The 'phansi ghar' was inaugurated in the presence of Kejriwal and Sisodia inside the assembly complex on August 22, 2022, when they were serving as Delhi chief minister and deputy chief minister, respectively. While Kejriwal was the chief guest, the then deputy speaker Rakhi Birla was the guest of honour, and Goel presided over the ceremony.

The 'phansi ghar', as per AAP, was installed as a symbolic memorial relating to the freedom struggle and the sacrifices made by freedom fighters, and the inauguration was a matter of public knowledge.

Displaying a 1912 map of the Assembly complex, Speaker Gupta, during the last Monsoon session, told the House that there was no documentation or evidence indicating that the space was used for executions. He had referred the matter to the committee for examination and report. PTI SKV SKV RT RT