CM can’t be absent for long: Delhi High Court on Arvind Kejriwal

Tribune News Service

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, April 29

The Delhi High Court on Monday said it was Arvind Kejriwal’s personal decision to continue as the Delhi Chief Minister but it did not mean the fundamental rights of young children could be trampled upon.

SC questions CM’s failure to appear before ED

Questioning Arvind Kejriwal’s non-appearance before the ED despite repeated summonses, the SC on Monday wondered if he could challenge his arrest in a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy scam on the ground of non-recording of his statement.

A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora was hearing a public interest litigation filed by NGO Social Jurist arguing students of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools were being deprived of statutory benefits such as textbooks, writing material and uniform in the absence of operational bank accounts.

The court said there was a “ring of truth” in the statement made by Delhi Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on April 26 that any increase in financial power of the Commissioner, MCD, shall require the CM’s approval. It said it amounted to admission that the Delhi Government, due to the absence of CM, was “at a standstill”. “A CM’s post in any state, let alone a buzzing capital city like Delhi, is not a ceremonial post. It is a post where the office holder (when in office) has to be virtually available 24x7 to deal with any crisis or natural disaster such as flooding, fire, disease etc. National interest and public interest demands that no person who holds this post is incommunicado or absent for a long stretch of time or for an uncertain period time,” the court said.

The court said to say no important decision could be taken during a mode code of conduct was “misnomer”. “Undoubtedly, no new policy decision can be taken but holders of constitutional posts have to everyday take important as well as urgent decisions. For instance, issuance of free textbooks, writing material and uniform as well as replacement of broken chairs and tables in accordance with the existing policies in the MCD schools is an urgent and immediate decision, which brooks no delay and which is not prohibited during the model code of conduct...,” it said.

The Commissioner, MCD, had told the court earlier the statutory benefits could not be provided as he did not have the requisite financial power to award contracts for procurement of these statutory items and the standing committee of MCD, which has the financial power, was non-functional since 2023.

The court also took a judicial note that the current MCD had hardly transacted any business in the past one year. The court further said it was of the view that non-availability of the CM or non-formation of a standing committee or disputes pertaining to appointment of an alderman by the Lieutenant-Governor or non-delivery of judgment by a competent court or non-compliance of certain provisions of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act could not come in the way of schoolchildren receiving their free textbooks, writing material and uniform forthwith. The court said nothing prevented the MCD from taking a suo motu resolution in the MCD House authorising the Commissioner to make payment for textbooks, writing material and uniform. “Consequently, the submission of learned counsel for the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi blaming other institutions amounts to nothing but ‘shedding of crocodile tears’,” the court observed.

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