Kejriwal’s arrest should not affect the education of students

The Delhi High Court rebuked the Delhi Government and the Municipal Administration

New Delhi – The Delhi High Court on 29th April observed that the fundamental rights of school-going children must not be hampered due to Arvind Kejriwal’s “personal” decision to continue as the Delhi Chief Minister after his arrest. Last week, the High Court rebuked Kejriwal, stating that he has put ‘personal interest’ above everything and his Government is only focused on ‘holding on to power’. Delhi HC had scolded the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi Government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for failing to provide textbooks to over 2,00,000 students in public schools.

A Public Interest Litigation was filed highlighting the fact that 2,69,488 students studying in the schools run by the Directorate of Education, GNCTD and 3,83,203 students studying in the school run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (‘MCD’) are being deprived of the statutory benefits like a uniform, writing material, textbook, stationery items, school bags, scholarship, etc. The High Court said that Kejriwal being in jail doesn’t mean that students will sit through their first term without free textbooks, writing material and uniforms in MCD schools.

The Chief Minister should be available 24 hours

A bench of Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Arora said that a Chief Minister’s post in any state, let alone in a buzzing capital city like Delhi, is not ceremonial and it is a post where the office holder has to be virtually available 24×7 to deal with any crisis or a natural disaster like flooding, fire, and disease.

They said, “National interest and public interest demands that no person who holds this post is incommunicado or absent for a long time or for an uncertain period. To say that no important decision can be taken during a model code of conduct is a misnomer.”

Editorial Perspective

It is a shame that Kejriwal is still not leaving the post of Chief Minister for the selfishness of power. The people of Delhi should now put pressure on Kejriwal to resign as Chief Minister.