Mulayam, son in SC, seek 2 yrs to vacate bungalows

satya prakash

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 28

Despite the Supreme Court order striking down a law that entitled former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers to get government accommodation, many of them are not willing to vacate their bungalows.

The father-son duo of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav — both former UP chief ministers — moved the Supreme Court on Monday seeking “appropriate time” for vacating their official residences allocated by the Uttar Pradesh government.

They had earlier requested the state government to give them two years to vacate their official accommodation. In its May 7 order, the top court had said a former chief minister was like a common man after demitting office.

“The Chief Minister, once he/she demits the office, is on a par with the common citizen, though by virtue of the office held, he/she may be entitled to security and other protocols. But allotment of government bungalow, to be occupied during his/her lifetime, would not be guided by the constitutional principle of equality,” a Bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi had said.

The top court’s order affected six former UP chief ministers — Mulayam, Akhilesh, Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh, ND Tiwari and Mayawati.

The Bench invoked the Preamble of the Constitution that talked about justice, equality, liberty and fraternity and explained how the 26th Amendment to the Constitution ended privy purse and privileges enjoyed by former rulers of princely states in 1971.

Noting that natural resources, public lands and the public goods like government bungalows/official residence were public property belonging to the people of India, the Bench had said: “The ‘Doctrine of Equality’ which emerges from the concepts of justice, fairness must guide the state in the distribution/ allocation of the same.”

The verdict came on a PIL filed by an NGO, Lok Prahari, on whose petition the provision for accommodation for former chief ministers as made under 1997 Rules was declared invalid by the top court on August 1, 2016, on the ground that it was in direct conflict with the Section 4 of the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981.

Thereafter, the law was amended during Akhilesh Government and Section 4(3) of the Act making former chief ministers entitled to allotment of government accommodation.