Former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal has filed a petition in the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution, seeking to overturn the Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya’s decision not to transfer the excise policy case from the bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.
The move comes after the Delhi High Court Chief Justice rejected Kejriwal’s request for a change of bench. In a letter dated 11 March, Kejriwal and others, including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who have been discharged by the lower court, had expressed a “grave, bona fide and reasonable apprehension” that the matter would not receive an impartial hearing before Justice Sharma. They cited her 9 March order granting ex parte interim relief to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), expedited listing of the revision petition, and earlier rulings in related excise matters that were later set aside or criticised by the Supreme Court.
Excise Policy Case | AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal has now approached the Supreme Court with an appeal to change the High Court judge. AAP leader Manish Sisodia has also approached the Supreme Court in connection with the High Court summons case. He challenged the High…
— ANI (@ANI) March 15, 2026
However, the chief justice of the Delhi High Court refused to change the judge for the case, saying that the case has been assigned to Justice Sharma in accordance with the current roster. The Chief Justice noted that any call for recusal would need to be considered by the judge concerned, but found no grounds to order a transfer.
Kejriwal’s petition to the Supreme Court not only challenges Chief Justice Upadhyaya’s refusal to transfer the CBI’s revision petition but also challenges Justice Sharma’s 9 March order. In that ruling, Justice Sharma stayed the trial court’s directions for departmental action against the CBI investigating officer and made prima facie observations that certain remarks in the discharge order were “erroneous”. The High Court had also directed deferral of connected Prevention of Money Laundering Act proceedings.
The controversy stems from the trial court’s 27 February 2026 order discharging Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the now-scrapped 2021-22 Delhi excise policy case. The CBI promptly filed a revision petition in the High Court, which was assigned to Justice Sharma as per the roster.
