Supreme Court rejects plea to disqualify Satyendar Jain

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the petition to disqualify Satyendar Jain, MLA and Minister in the state government, who has been in judicial custody in a money laundering case since May 30, and declared him as “a person of unsound mind” and disqualified him from the Assembly on this ground.
A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S. Oka dismissed the plea with cost. The court ordered that the fee be paid within four weeks to the Supreme Court Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee (MCPC).
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 Ministers in the Delhi Government, Satyendra Kumar Jain, also a member of the Legislative Assembly from Shakur Basti Assembly constituency since 2015, declared that he had lost his memory before the Officers of the Enforcement Directorate, and the same had 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 the Delhi government and is still enjoying the post of Member of the Legislative Assembly of the 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 from being a Member of the Legislative Assembly or Cabinet Minister in the government of the NCT of Delhi.
Earlier, the Principal District and Sessions Judge Vinay Kumar Gupta on September 23 agreed to transfer the Satyender Jain money laundering case 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 at 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.