‘Three sections sat in one class’: Petitioner backs HC rap for Delhi govt, MCD

Delhi chief minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal during a recent appearance at the Rouse Avenue Court in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.

The tongue-lashing administered by Delhi high court to the Arvind Kejriwal-led government is “well-deserved,” according to petitioner Ashok Aggarwal, who approached the court over the non-supply of textbooks to over 2 lakh students in government schools, and those run by the national capital’s municipal corporation (MCD), controlled by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

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“The Delhi government deserved to be lashed out. Their advertisements show that they run world-class institutions. However, the reality is entirely different. I have seen several schools of the Delhi government and MCD. I saw 140 students or three sections sitting in one class. There was no water facility. I witnessed the same in civic body schools too,” Aggarwal told ANI.

Aggarwal, an advocate, further said that under the Right To Education (RTE) Act, the Delhi government was duty-bound to provide basic facilities in MCD-run schools.

“Students are entitled to receive textbooks, notebooks, writing materials, and uniforms, but have not. While notebooks were sent after the high court rap, books are still to be received,” he said.

What did the high court say?

On Friday, the two-judge bench headed by Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Manmohan and also comprising Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, rebuked the AAP dispensation, accusing it of “prioritising the political interests of the party over national interest.”

“You (Delhi government) have placed your interest above the interest of the students, the children that are studying. That is very clear and we are going to give that finding that you have placed your political interest at a higher pedestal. This is arrogance of power at its highest,” the bench observed.

In recent days, the AAP has been organising street protests against the March arrest of its national convenor and Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged liquor policy scam. The AAP supremo is currently lodged in the Tihar Jail.

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