Supreme Court rejects plea to disqualify Satyendar Jain

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the petition to disqualify Satyendar Jain from MLA and Minister in the state government, who is in judicial custody in a money laundering case since May 30, and declare him as "a person with unsound mind" and disqualify him from the Assembly on this ground.
A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka dismissed the plea with cost. "The petition is so misconceived and such a wastage of judicial time that it necessitates an imposition of costs of Rs.20,000/- on the petitioner," the court said and directed that the cost to be deposited with the Supreme Court Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee (MCPC) within four weeks.
The petitioner Ashish Kumar Srivastava has filed his petition through Advocate-on-Record Nirmal Kumar Ambastha and advocate Rudra Vikram Singh.
The Petitioner has challenged the Delhi High Court order dated August 16 2022.
The petitioner submitted that the Delhi Government is clearly violating the Provisions of the Constitution of India under Article 191, which clearly states that 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.
The petitioner further submitted that one of the Cabinet Minister in the Delhi Government Satyendra Kumar Jain, also a member of the Legislative Assembly from Shakur Basti Assembly constituency since 2015 himself, declared that he lost his memory, before the Officers of the Enforcement Directorate and the same has also been informed to the Special Judge Rouse Avenue District Court, New Delhi by the Additional Solicitor General.
But unfortunately, he is still continuing the important Cabinet Minister portfolio in Delhi Government and still enjoying the post of Member of the Legislative Assembly of Delhi Assembly, the petitioner said.
Hence, the petitioner submitted that the Court may declare Satyendra Jain a person with an unsound mind and subsequently disqualify him for being a Member of the Legislative Assembly/ Cabinet Minister in the government of NCT of Delhi.
Earlier, the Principal District and Sessions Judge Vinay Kumar Gupta on September 23 agreed to transfer the Satyender Jain money laundering to another judge and listed the matter afresh for hearing today itself.
According to the order the case was transferred to Special Judge Vikas Dhull. Earlier it was heard in length by Special Judge Geetanjali Goel.
The ED on June 6 claimed to have seized Rs 2.85 crore in cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg from Satyendra Jain's aides during its day-long raid conducted at various places across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). During these raids, the agency also seized various incriminating documents and digital records.
The ED initiated the money-laundering investigation on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 24, 2017.
The FIR was registered under Section 13(2) and 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Satyendar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain. (ANI)