A contempt of court petition has been filed in the High Court against the Delhi government for non-payment of rent to a poor tenant during the Covid pandemic. The petition alleged that the court had directed the Delhi government to implement Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement regarding the payment of rent, but the government has failed to comply with this order. The Chief Minister had said that if any poor tenant is unable to pay the rent during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government will pay it. The court has now given the government two weeks to implement the order.
Delhi government’s lawyer Gautam Narayan, appearing before Justice Rekha Palli, told that the matter is sub-judice before the government. He sought two weeks’ time to reach a conclusion in this regard. The court has fixed the matter for hearing on September 27.
In fact, the court had directed the Delhi government to take a decision on the matter in six weeks, but the government could not implement the order. After this, a petition has been filed in this regard alleging the government willfully contempt of court. The court is hearing that petition.
On June 22, the court had ruled that the Chief Minister’s promise should be implemented. The court had directed the Aam Aadmi Party government to take a decision on Chief Minister Kejriwal’s announcement within six weeks.
The petitioners, who claim to be daily wage earners and labourers, have sought implementation of the promise made by Kejriwal during a press conference on March 29 last year.
The contempt petition filed through advocate Gaurav Jain states that the deadline of 6 weeks expired on September 2, 21, but the Delhi government has not yet complied with the above direction. Petitioners Najma, Karan Singh, Rehana Bibi gave memorandums to the government in this regard on August 29 and August 30 and sought information from the government but no response was given.
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The petition said that unless a decision is taken, a clear policy on payment of rent cannot be formulated. According to the petition, the government has deliberately committed contempt of court by not complying with the order of the court.
The court, in its 89-page judgment, had said a statement made in the press conference held in the backdrop of the lockdown announced due to the pandemic and mass exodus of migrant laborers cannot be ignored. The government needs to take a decision on the assurance given by the Chief Minister for proper governance, failure cannot be expressed on that.
