High court stays order to implement Delhi CM Kejriwal’s promise on rent payment

On July 22, justice Prathiba M Singh ruled that a chief minister’s promise to the citizens was enforceable, and directed the Delhi government to decide on Kejriwal’s announcement in a presser on March 29, 2020, that his government would pay the rent on behalf of poor tenants who were unable to do so owing to Covid-19.

The Delhi high court on Monday stayed an order by the single judge bench that had directed the Delhi government to formulate a policy on the implementation of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s promise, made on March 29, 2020,that if a poor tenant couldn’t pay the rent, the state would pay it.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on March 29 that the Delhi government will pay house rent of poor tenants who were not able to pay because of Covid 19 pandemic. The high court on Monday stayed a direction to the government to implement the scheme. (Amal KS/HT Photo)

A bench of chief justice DN Patel and justice Jyoti Singh said irreparable loss will be caused to the appellant (the government) if an order of stay is not passed.

“There is a prima facie case in favour of the appellant. Balance of convenience is in favour of the appellant and irreparable loss shall be caused. We stay the operation, implementation, and execution of the order of the single judge till the next date of hearing,” said the bench.

The court, however, sought to know from the Delhi government counsel whether they had any intention to implement the promise.

“So you have no intention to make the payment? Are you willing to pay 5 %... even 1% or pay nothing?” the court said.

When the Delhi government counsel, senior advocate Manish Vashisht, said no one has come before them (the government) until now with such a demand, the bench remarked, “You draft a policy and there will be thousands of people before you.”

On July 22, the single judge bench of justice Prathiba M Singh ruled that a chief minister’s promise to the citizens was enforceable and directed the Delhi government to take a decision within six weeks on Kejriwal’s announcement in a presser on March 29, 2020, that his government would pay the rent on behalf of poor tenants who were unable to do so owing to Covid-19.

The court directed the Delhi government to formulate a policy regarding this, saying it was not a “political promise” made during an election rally. It said statements made by people in power are trusted by the public and so “puffing”, which may be permissible in commercial advertising, ought not to be recognisable and permissible in governance.

The judgment came on a plea by five daily wagers who were unable to pay their monthly rent and wanted Kejriwal to come good on his promise, which was also an appeal to landlords to not coerce poor tenants to pay up during the Covid-induced national lockdown.

Challenging this decision, the Delhi government on Monday contended that in the backdrop of the outbreak of the pandemic, a “fervent appeal” was made by the chief minister to the public at large not to coerce tenants into paying rent; however, the same was “found” to be “a sort of a promise” by the single judge.

“Accordingly to me, there was no promise at all. We only said please follow the statement of the Prime Minister. We said to landlords (that) do not coerce tenants to pay rent..and if, to some extent, the poor do not find the means to pay, the government will look into it,” Vashisht said.

In its appeal, the Delhi government submitted that expecting a government to “implement a truncated sentence from the press conference held by the chief minister, devoid of its context and in the face of developments which demonstrate that the eventuality for which the assurance was made never actually transpired, is grossly inequitable”.

Appearing for the daily wagers, advocate Gaurav Jain opposed the plea and said his clients have no means to pay the rent.

The court issued notice to the daily wagers and granted them time to file their replies.The matter will be heard next on November 29.