New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would not be permitted to carry out his official responsibilities due to "may have a cascading effect" even if he is granted interim bail while in jail, media reports said.

However, the court did not take an immediate decision to provide relief for Kejriwal, as the Supreme Court reserved its ruling on his bail petition.

"This is an extraordinary situation. It is not like he is a habitual offender. Elections happen once in five years. It's not like harvesting a crop that will happen every four to six months. We need to consider on priority whether he should be released in the interim," the bench said, reported India Today.

"(Former Union Defence Minister) George Fernandes contested the elections from jail and won with such a huge margin of votes that it was the largest in Indian elections."

However, the ED refused the court's suggestion, saying it would set a "wrong precedent".

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) rejected the court's proposal, saying it would set a "wrong precedent".

"A politician has no special rights as compared to normal citizens. Should all MPs and MLAs facing prosecution be released on bail?" it asked.

Singhvi has been asked to address the concerns raised by the Enforcement Directorate.

The issues are, "Can a politician get special treatment compared to a common man. There are 5,000 facing prosecution. What if all of them say they want to campaign? Nine summons over six months? The ED cannot be blamed for choosing time; can interim bail be granted as they haven’t yet gone into evidence?"

During the hearing, the Supreme Court also questioned Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who represented the Enforcement Directorate, regarding the delay in interrogating and investigating the AAP chief.

"When we began the investigation, our investigation was not directly against him (Kejriwal). His role came up during the investigation. That's why, in the beginning, not a single question was put regarding him. The investigation was not focused on him," SV Raju said.

To this, the bench replied, "This is an unusual case... Why did you take so long, and why were the questions not asked? We take it that no question was asked about him. The only issue was why were you delaying?" the report said.

According to the India Today report, the Additional Solicitor General said if he "started asking about Kejriwal at the outset, it would have been called malafide". "It takes time to understand. We can't put it overnight. Things have to be confirmed."

Tuesday's hearing followed shortly after the Supreme Court's indication on May 3 that it might consider granting interim bail to Kejriwal due to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Arvind Kejriwal, currently jailed at Tihar Jail, filed an appeal with the Supreme Court the day after his petition contesting his arrest and custody was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on April 9.