The apex court has directed the Centre to evict politicians for continuing to occupy govt accommodation in capital in violation of rules, regulations.
NEW DELHI: In May this year, Bihar Governor Buta Singh was spearheading a campaign in Patna to evict former state legislators Sadhu Yadav and company from their official residences. The politicians obliged after some murmurs of protest.
Now, the governor is at the receiving end. Singh has been occupying a sprawling government bungalow in New Delhi’s posh 9 Lodhi Estate despite living in the Patna Raj Bhavan.
“Throw him out,” the Supreme Court told the Centre on Monday after expressing surprise that the veteran Congressman and several other politicians continue to stay in their official bungalows long after relinquishing their positions.
“Buta Singh is governor of Bihar. What is he doing here? How can he be occupying this house? The governor cannot have a house here. Throw him out,” a bench comprising Justice BN Agarwal and Justice AK Mathur ordered.
Under the rules, Singh was entitled to keep the house for eight months after becoming governor. Singh became governor on November 2, 2004. Accordingly, he was served an eviction notice on July 2, 2005, by the directorate of estates.
But Singh not only continues to occupy the bungalow, he even made the Bihar government write to the Union urban development ministry seeking its transfer to the state government quota. Though the ministry is officially saying that the request is under consideration, sources say it has been rejected. Meanwhile, Buta Singh’s younger son Sweety has the space to himself.
Among the other high-profile politicians who have not vacated accommodations or are living beyond their entitlements are Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, BJP leaders Jaswant Singh and Rajnath Singh, former MP Gayatri Devi, Maneka Gandhi, George Fernandes, Omar Abdullah, Nitish Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, MM Joshi, M Venkaiah Naidu, Amar Singh, Arun Jaitley, and Sharad Yadav.
Even the official residence allotted to former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, who died recently, has been occupied by his family members, an affidavit filed by Additional Director of Estates Sujaya Krishnan said. Some bureaucrats and journalists are also on the list of illegal occupants of government bungalows.
The urban development ministry headed by Congressman Ghulam Nabi Azad has been treading carefully while touching political bigwigs and enforcing guidelines for leaders of other parties.
In June 2004, Azad wrote to BJP leaders LK Advani and Jaswant Singh to get houses vacated by former NDA ministers to make space for new ones. Of the 19 ministers occupying Type VIII bungalows, only six left. Also, while Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Chhattisgrah counterpart Raman Singh were forced to vacate their bungalows after notices from the ministry, Mulayam Singh and others have been allowed to stay.
Mulayam Singh was served an eviction notice on June 7, 2004, but he requested the ministry to transfer the bungalow to his son Akhilesh Yadav or the state government quota. The rules permit neither. Akhilesh Yadav is a junior MP not entitled to Type VIII accommodation. But so far there has been no further order from Azad’s office.
With the Supreme Court's ruling on Monday the ministry may finally have to bite the bullet and take a stand, which it had been avoiding all this while.
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