Can Arvind Kejriwal continue to be CM while in custody?

• Questions are being asked about whether the Delhi Chief Minister can continue to occupy a public office that demands a high degree of morality after being remanded in judicial custody.

Key highlights

• Earlier judgments in the Supreme Court and High Courts have concluded that constitutional morality, good governance, and constitutional trust are the basic norms for holding a public office.
• A recent judgment by the Madras High Court in S.Ramachandran versus V.Senthilbalaji referred to arguments made in court on
  • Whether a Minister must forfeit his right to occupy a public office that demands a high degree of morality if he is accused of a “financial scandal”.
• A former Tamil Nadu Minister, was arrested by the ED on money-laundering charges last year.
• He continued to be a Minister without portfolio while he was in judicial custody.
• The arguments referred to a 2014 Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court in Manoj Narula versus Union of India
  • Which had held that the basic norm for holding a public office was constitutional morality, that is, to avoid acting in a manner contradictory to the rule of law.
• “Political compulsion cannot outweigh the public morality, requirements of good/clean governance and constitutional morality,” the High Court had observed.

Prelims Takeaway

• ED
• CM