Madhya Pradesh HC shows door to former CMs: Vacate allotted govt bungalows within one month

Bhopal, June 20: Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday gave an order which has made former Chief Ministers vacate their government allotted bungalows within a deadline of a month.

 

This order has made former CMs Babulal Gaur, Digvijay Singh, Kailash Joshi, Uma Bharati to lose their bungalows. Last month itself, Supreme Court had ordered to former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh to vacate their government bungalows.

A division bench of Chief Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice A K Shrivastava held that section 5 (1) of the MP Mantri Vetan Thatha Bhata Adhiniyam 1972 (MP Minister's Salaries and Allowances Act), incorporated last year, was "unconstitutional", said advocate Vipin Yadav, the lawyer of petitioner Raunak Yadav.

Yadav also said, "My client had moved the court arguing that allotment of bungalows to former chief ministers was in violation of Article 14 (right to equality) of Constitution."

Last Month, because of Supreme Court order, former UP CMs like Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kalyan Singh, Mayawati, Rajnath Singh and Akhilesh Yadav had to vacate their government allotted bungalows in the state capital of UP, Lucknow.

The SC, in an earlier order, had clarified that former chief ministers are not entitled to government bungalows for life.