Court to hear arguments on Delhi govt's plea on January 15

A Delhi court will next week hear the ongoing arguments on an application of Delhi government seeking release of documents seized by CBI during its raid on December 15 last year at the office of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar.
The part arguments on the plea was heard by Special CBI Judge Ajay Kumar Jain who fixed the matter for January 15.
In its plea, the Delhi government has said that CBI should be asked to release documents which were not essential for the purpose of probe, seized by it "indiscriminately".
It has also sought initiation of stringent action against erring officials responsible for raiding "malafidely the office of applicant and seizing documents which cause immense dislocation of work in the office of the applicant."

"The sole objective of raid at 'said premises' was to malafidely intrude, obstruct and dislocate the work of government of NCT of Delhi as such and cause immense harm, juxtaposed with state's functions to secure societal reforms, welfare, security and privacy," the plea filed by the Delhi government has said.
It also said that documents seized from Chief Minister's office include registers maintained for noting down telephone numbers and appointment details of day-to-day functioning of the office and such documents were not relevant for the probe being conducted by the agency.

Earlier on December 23 last year, the court had directed that photocopies of the files mentioned in the government's plea be supplied to it by December 28 last year.

CBI had registered a case against Kumar and others on the allegations that he had abused his official position by "favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from Delhi government departments".
In its order, the court noted that CBI could not explain
what were the illegal commissions obtained in these accounts by the company.
"The basis of seizure of the bank account does not appear that the applicant company has either not performed the work or performed sub-standard work," it said.
"It is not the case of CBI till present stage, according to their reply and arguments, that the applicant company has not executed the contracts properly or performed sub-standard work," the court said.

On December 15 last year, CBI had raided the office of Rajendra Kumar, close to the Chief Minister's office here, in connection with the case.
According to the CBI, "Rajender Kumar had played an active role in the process of promising and facilitating award of tender to a pre determined party i.E., M/s Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd due to extraneous considerations and devoid of public interest which shows clear element of abuse of official position and criminal conspiracy among the accused persons including the Directors of the present applicant company."
CBI had registered a case against Kumar and others on the allegations against the officer that he had abused his official position by favouring the firm in the last few years in getting tenders from Delhi government departments.

Kumar has been booked under section 120-B of IPC (criminal conspiracy), and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly favouring the company in five contracts worth Rs 9.5 crore during 2007-14.