SC refuses to interfere with Delhi HC order staying enforcing Kejriwal's promise on house rents
Feb 28, 2022
New Delhi [India], February 28 : The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Delhi High Court division bench's order which stayed the decision to direct the Delhi Government to implement the promises made to pay rents of poor tenants by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud said that it is not inclined to hear a special leave petition challenging Delhi HC's interim order dated September 27, 2021.
"On September 27, 2021, division bench had given stay order on the judgment delivered by the single judge on July 22, 2021. In this SLP, we had challenged the interim order dated September 27,2021," the order copy added.
The Division Bench of Delhi High Court on September 27, 2021, in an interim order, stayed the Single Bench order dated July 22, 2021 that had directed the Government to implement the promises made to pay rents of poor tenants by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The Division Bench of Delhi HC stayed the operation and implementation of the single judge order till further orders.
The Government of NCT Delhi in its plea challenged the order passed by the single judge bench of Delhi HC that stated "good governance requires promises made to citizens that are not broken".
The single bench had opinioned, "promise/assurance given by the Chief Minister of a state clearly amounts to an enforceable promise, the implementation of which ought to be considered by the Government. Good governance requires that promises made to citizens by those who govern are not broken, without valid and justifiable reasons".
The single judge bench of Delhi High Court had pronounced a judgement in petitions moved by four daily wagers who claimed to be tenants who were unable to pay their monthly rent. The fifth Petitioner in the matter is stated to be a landlord who hasn't been able to receive the monthly rent from his tenant. Both sets of Petitioners sought recovery/payment/refund of the monthly rental amount, as per the promise made by Kejriwal.
Petitioners had sought enforcement of the promise made by the Chief Minister of Delhi on March 29, 2020, in a press conference, in which he requested all landlords to postpone the demand/collection of rent from those tenants who are poor and poverty-stricken, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
