New Delhi: The Centre today informed the Delhi High Court that it will allot suitable accommodation to AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal within 10 days.
The arguments were made before Justice Sachin Dutta, who said that issues related to allotment of accommodation have to be resolved. The court was hearing a petition filed by the Aam Aadmi Party seeking directions to the Centre to allot a bungalow here to the former Delhi Chief Minister. “He will be allotted suitable accommodation within 10 days from today. You can record my statement,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, told the court.
The Solicitor General’s argument came in response to the court’s observation that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi had recently said that the issue would be resolved soon. Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for AAP, again told the court that this accommodation cannot be less than the accommodation given to Kejriwal in the past.
He said, “It has been type 7 or 8. They cannot downgrade me to type 5. I am not Bahujan Samaj Party.”
To this, the court said, “If you are not happy, then do not take it. The solution lies in talking to your SG.” During this, the SG commented, “A common man never fights for type 8.” Mehra replied, “This whole slogan was appropriate in elections, this is the court.” The judge then intervened by saying that appeals have been filed and the order will be pronounced later.
The judge said that such issues related to allotment have to be resolved, not only for politicians but also for others. He said, “The practice of the ministry has to be kept in mind. This time, not only for politicians but also for non-politicians, this is an issue that needs to be resolved.’’
The court said that if AAP and Kejriwal are not satisfied with the allotted accommodation, they will have the freedom to approach the government.
The petition said that Kejriwal had vacated the official residence 6 at Flagstaff Road on October 4, 2024, after leaving the post of Chief Minister. According to the petition, since then he has been living at the official residence of another party member near Mandi House.