Delhi HC sets aside 2021 order, says Kejriwal’s rent assurance not enforceable

The Delhi High Court on Monday observed that an assurance given by then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at a press conference on March 29, 2020, that the Delhi government would pay rent for those unable to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic, was not enforceable, and that such statements cannot be enforced based on the circumstances in which they were made.

Terming Mr. Kejriwal’s statement as having been made “on the spur of the moment”, a Bench of Justices C. Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla set aside a 2021 High Court order directing the Delhi government to implement the assurance, which had come on petitions filed by several daily wage labourers and a landlord.