New Delhi:

The Delhi government has “come to a standstill” after the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the High Court said today while hearing a petition on the state of education in schools run by the city civic body. A Chief Minster’s post in a buzzing capital like Delhi is not ceremonial and it is post where the office holder has to be available 24×7. His absence cannot deprive children of their free text books, writing material and uniforms, the court said.

“National interest and public interest demands that no person who holds this post is incommunicado or absent for a long stretch or for an uncertain period time,” said the bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora.

The court held that the admission of Delhi’s Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj — that any increase in financial power of MCD commissioner shall require approval of Mr Kejriwal – amounts to an admission that “Delhi government has come to a standstill” after the Chief Minister’s arrest.

The petition had maintained that nearly two lakh students lacked basic amenities at the beginning of the academic year due to administrative hurdles.

During the hearing on April 26, the High Court came down heavily on Mr Kejriwal, the Delhi government and the civic body for their failure to provide textbooks. Mr Kejriwal’s insistence on holding the post even after his arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case puts political interest over national interest, the judges had said.

Following the rebuke, the office of the Lieutenant Governor had accused the AAP-led Delhi government and Saurabh Bharadwaj of delaying the approval of a proposal to temporarily enhance the financial powers of the MCD Commissioner from Rs 5 crore to Rs 50 crore.

Officials argued that the delay has hampered some crucial projects linked to education, health, and sanitation, as the Standing Committee of the Corporation has not been constituted for over a year.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Sunday found itself in a bit of a soup after Singapore’s High Commissioner to India, Simon Wong, highlighted a significant spelling error in the name of his country on a signboard installed near the high commission. 

Mr Wong, who discovered the gaffe while on his morning walk, took to X and asked the MCD to do a ‘spell check’ before installing the signage

The post featured a picture of signage and Mr Wong. The caption read, “It is always good to spell check first. HC Wong.”

See the post here:

It is always good to spell check first. HC Wong@tweetndmc@MCD_Delhipic.twitter.com/wv9HDECxDx

— Singapore in India (@SGinIndia) October 8, 2023

Posted a few hours ago, the post has amassed more than 1,48,000 views on X. The post received a barrage of comments on social media. 

A user wrote, “A big oops moment hope @MCD_Delhi fixes it ASAP.”

Another user wrote on X, “Good advice…but then where will our smiles come from?”

“It is what happens when people translate from Hindi word to English… Common mistakes in all regional languages,” the third user commented. 

Earlier, High Commissioner of Singapore in India Simon Wong danced with folk artists at a G20 meeting in West Bengal’s Darjeeling.

“A wonderful evening at the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting. Moonlight tea picking was the highlight. HC Wong,” Singapore in India tweeted on Saturday.

Mr Wong also congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for launching the PSLV-C56. 

He noted that the rocket has placed seven satellites developed by the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), ST Engineering, Singapore’s universities and private industry into orbit. 

New Delhi:

 A 49-year-old assistant sanitary inspector was allegedly manhandled by AAP MLA Jai Bhagwan Upkar on Wednesday morning in northwest Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy area, police said, adding that a case has been filed in the matter.

No immediate reaction from the Bawana MLA Upkar was available.

A case under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) has been registered at Shahbad Dairy police station, a senior police official said.

The complaint was filed by Mukesh Kumar, who as MCD assistant sanitary inspector, ward number 28, Narela Zone supervised the sanitation workers of the ward.

On Wednesday around 10 am, he and sanitary inspector Nanhe Ram supervising the cleaning work done by the staff in Shahbad Dairy area in front of JE store, when the MLA manhandled him, Kumar said in his complaint.

Upkar came with some of his workers and complained to Kumar angrily that they do not clean his area and receive salaries despite doing no work, it said.

Kumar replied by saying they clean the area regularly, to which Upkar responded with abuses, the complaint said.

The MCD employee told the AAP leader that he was creating obstacles in government work and added that if cleanliness in his area was not up to the mark, they will clean it again, the complaint said.

Hearing this, the MLA got angry and he dragged Kumar by the collar towards the main market, grabbed him by the neck and started beating him, it said. When Nanhe Ram intervened, the MLA started misbehaving with him also, the complaint added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)