New Delhi, Sep 9 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Monday listed for hearing on October 23 Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's petition challenging the summonses issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its probe into an excise policy-linked money laundering case.

While deferring a hearing in the matter, a bench headed by Justice Prathiba M Singh noted that a rejoinder by the AAP leader in response to the ED's reply was not on record.

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The senior counsel for Kejriwal said the rejoinder has been "circulated" but may not be on the court's record. The agency's lawyer reiterated that the petition was now infructuous.

"Let the rejoinder be brought on record. List on October 23," the bench, also comprising Justice Amit Sharma, said.

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The counsel for the ED earlier argued that the petition against the summonses was infructuous after Kejriwal's arrest by the agency on March 21 in the money laundering case following the high court's refusal to grant him interim protection from coercive action.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener had approached the high court in the wake of the ninth summons issued by the ED asking him to appear before it on March 21. The high court bench had on March 20 asked the ED to file its reply with respect to the maintainability of the petition.

The next day, it asked the ED to also respond to Kejriwal's plea seeking protection from arrest, saying "at this stage" it was not inclined to grant him any interim relief. Kejriwal was arrested by the ED later that evening.

Kejriwal is presently on interim bail in the money laundering case, with the Supreme Court referring questions on the aspect of "need and necessity of arrest" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to a larger bench for in-depth consideration.

The top court has reserved order on the issue of his bail in the corruption case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI arrested the Delhi chief minister in the excise policy related corruption case on June 26.

The ED has alleged that other accused in the case were in touch with Kejriwal for formulating the now-scrapped excise policy that resulted in undue benefits to them and kickbacks to AAP.

In his petition, Kejriwal has also challenged the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) with respect to arrest, questioning and grant of bail.

He has raised several issues, including whether a political party is covered under the anti-money laundering law. It alleged that "arbitrary procedure" under PMLA was being used to create a non-level playing field for the general elections to "skew the electoral process in the favour of the ruling party at the Centre".

Stating the petitioner is a "vocal critic" of the ruling party and a partner of the opposition INDIA bloc, the plea claimed that the ED, being under control of the Union government, has been "weaponised".

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