Atishi barred from hoisting national flag on Independence Day for Arvind Kejriwal, says GAD official

PTC News Desk: As uncertainty surrounds who will hoist the national flag during Delhi’s official Independence Day function, the General Administration Department (GAD) has clarified that Atishi cannot do so on behalf of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently in jail in the excise policy case.

This decision follows a directive from GAD Minister Gopal Rai, who had previously instructed the department to arrange for Atishi to perform the flag-hoisting, as per Kejriwal’s request.

In a letter, Additional Chief Secretary Navin Kumar Chaudhary stated, “The communication from the Minister does not qualify as permissible communication from prison… Any written or oral communication contrary to the rules is legally invalid and cannot be acted upon.”

The department emphasized that Independence Day and Republic Day are of paramount constitutional importance. Deviations from established procedures for these events could undermine their sanctity and potentially result in statutory violations, according to the letter.

The GAD also noted that while they had sought confirmation from Kejriwal regarding his availability for the Independence Day function, he has indicated his unavailability due to judicial custody. The issue has been escalated to higher authorities, and a decision is pending.

In a related development, Kejriwal had written to Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena requesting that Atishi represent him in hoisting the flag. However, the L-G office stated they had not received any such communication from the chief minister. Tihar jail authorities have informed Kejriwal that his letter was considered an “abuse of privileges” under the Delhi Prison Rules and thus was not forwarded to the addressee.