The Delhi Assembly on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that the petitions filed by former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia challenging the summons issued to them by the privileges committee in connection with the “Phansi Ghar” controversy were “misconceived and not maintainable”.
Terming the petitions a “classic case of jumping the gun”, the Assembly’s lawyer, Jayant Mehta, told a bench of justice Sachin Datta that the order under challenge was not a summons for breach of privilege. He clarified that it was merely a notice seeking assistance from them in verifying the authenticity of the “Phansi Ghar” and providing relevant facts to the committee, which was conducting a factual inquiry.
“The petition is misconceived and non-maintainable. It is a classic case of jumping the gun. The notice is not for breach of privilege but for assisting the committee in ascertaining the authenticity of the ‘Phansi Ghar’ and giving those facts to the committee,” Mehta said.
The issue snowballed into a controversy after current Speaker Vijender Gupta earlier this year dismissed the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s claim that a chamber at the Assembly was once used by the British to hang freedom fighters. In 2022, the then AAP government had converted the chamber into a memorial honouring “martyrs”, featuring murals of revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, a symbolic hanging rope, and red-brick heritage-style walls. A plaque credited to Kejriwal and then Speaker Ram Niwas Goel carried an inscription that read: “Innumerable unknown freedom fighters have been hanged here.”
However, Speaker Gupta, during the monsoon session this August, dismissed those claims and presented building maps showing that the chamber was, in fact, a service shaft or tiffin lift area, not a gallows. Following his disclosure, the area was renamed the “Tiffin Room”, and the plaque and symbolic elements were removed.
The committee, on November 4, issued summons to four AAP leaders, including Kejriwal and Sisodia, asking them to appear on November 13 to verify the authenticity of the “Phansi Ghar”, which they had restored and inaugurated in the previous term.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Kejriwal and Sisodia’s lawyer, Shadan Farasat, submitted that the notices were issued without following due procedure. He added that the Assembly committee’s reference to verifying the authenticity of the “Phansi Ghar” was beyond the remit of the Delhi Legislative Assembly — and particularly its privileges committee — since the acts and omissions of the 7th tenure of the Assembly could not be inquired into by way of privilege by the 8th tenure.
The court will continue hearing the matter on November 24, when Mehta is expected to resume his submissions.