The Supreme Court has ruled that former chief ministers are not entitled to government accommodation and that they should vacate within two months of remitting office.
Ruling on a petition filed by NGO Lok Prahari, the apex court ordered six former CMs of Uttar Pradesh, including Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati to vacate their official bungalows.
Rajnath Singh, ND Tiwari and Kalyan Singh, who were earlier chief ministers of UP, are also among those ordered to vacate government-allotted bungalows.
A bench headed by Justice Anil R Dave, which pronounced its verdict on a 2004 plea, said that any such government accommodation should be vacated within two to three months."They don't have the right to occupy government accommodation for lifetime," the bench said.
The judgment came on a plea filed by a UP-based NGO Lok Prahari, which had sought a direction against allotment of government bungalows to ex-CMs and other "non-eligible" organisations.
The NGO had alleged that despite the direction of Allahabad High Court, the UP government had framed ex-Chief Minister's Residence Allotment Rules, 1997 (non-statutory) for allotting bungalows to successive ex-chief ministers.
The NGO had also contended that the rules framed in 1997 for allotment of government bungalows to ex-chief ministers were unconstitutional and illegal, and those occupying them were allegedly unauthorised occupants under the purview of the UP Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act. 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.
The judgment on the plea was reserved on November 27, 2014.
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