NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday didn’t get any immediate relief from a trial court in a criminal defamation case filed against him by finance minister Arun Jaitley On behalf of Kejriwal, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani sought adjournment for a “reasonable time”, saying there are two cases—civil and criminal—filed against Kejriwal and five other AAP members on same allegations and one of them should be stayed. Jethmalani submitted, “Adjourn the matter, so that I can approach the high court. I don’t want to face both the cases simultaneously.” Though the court did not reject Kejriwal’s plea, it observed “that both cases can proceed simultaneously”.Jaitley filed the complaint on December 21, 2015 following AAP’s allegations of corruption in the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) during his tenure as its president. between December 1999 and December 2013. On April 7, the court granted bail to the AAP functionaries. Kejriwal and the other accused—Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Kumar Vishwas, Rajeev Chadha and Deepak Bajpai.In its order, chief metropolitan magistrate Sumit Dass said, “I may note that this court cannot stay the proceedings on its own/merely on the account of pendency of the civil suit before the high court. In my opinion, the civil suit for damages on account of defamation and the criminal defamation case stand on different footings and can be tried simultaneously and there is no impediment qua proceedings further in the case in the hand.” The court has now fixed the matter for July 16 while asking the complainant to reply to Kejriwal’s plea. The court added that it would also hear arguments on framing of charges in the case on the same day.Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, who appeared for Jaitley, told the court that his client wanted the case to be tried on a daily basis. He also said the plea of an accused seeking documents of the case lacked any merit and was only a delaying tactic as all accused had been given the papers twice.The hearing also saw unusual moments with advocates abruptly putting a pause to their arguments to declare how “honoured” they felt to be in the same courtroom with the veteran lawyer Jethmalani. Some young lawyers who were not allowed inside were seen standing outside to catch a glimpse of the nonaganerian lawyer who rarely comes to lower courts.