New Delhi, March 16 -- The Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, has declined AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's request to transfer the CBI's appeal in the excise policy case from the bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma to another judge. Kejriwal had sought the transfer on the administrative side, arguing that the matter should be reassigned to a different bench.

Rejecting the request, the Chief Justice noted that the petition had been allocated to Justice Sharma according to the court's existing roster system, which determines the distribution of cases among judges. He stated that there was no ground to transfer the petition administratively, adding that such a step was not warranted in the present circumstances....