The Supreme Court today held that former Chief Ministers can not occupy government bungalows indefinitely.
Advertisement
Warning the ex-Chief ministers in an order, the apex court said, “Any such possession of government accommodation should be vacated within two months”.
The apex court ordered 6 ex-CMs of Uttar Pradesh, including Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati, to vacate the bungalows allotted by the government.
Rajnath Singh, ND Tiwari and Kalyan Singh, who were earlier chief ministers of UP, are also among those ordered to vacate government-allotted bungalows.
It’s a major setback to the former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh!
The court said the 1997 rules violated the statutory provisions under the 1981 Act.
“Dealing with the legality of the impugned provisions, it said, “.In our opinion, the 1997 Rules, which permit the former chief ministers to occupy government bungalows for life can not be said to be valid.
The State defended its policy on the ground of providing secure location to ex-CMs who enjoy “Z” category security.
“. Therefore, in our opinion, the said allotment can not be held to be justified”.
The petitioner also said that retention of government accommodation by chief ministers after demitting office was against the Provisions of UP Ministers (Salaries/allowances and other facilities) Act.
“They don’t have the right to occupy government accommodation for lifetime”, the bench also comprising justices U U Lalit and L Nageswara Rao said.
Advertisement
“So far as the first issue is concerned, in our opinion, the petitioner has locus standi to file the writ petition”.
