U.P.-based NGO Lok Prahari seeks action against authorities for acting in contempt of apex court verdict

Former ministers have no business overstaying in official bungalows. A minister who has demitted office cannot cling on to public largesse, amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium submitted in the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The court is examining a provision in a Uttar Pradesh law that allows ex-ministers to stay on in official bungalows. Uttar Pradesh-based NGO Lok Prahari has sought action against the authorities for acting in contempt of a Supreme Court verdict in August 2016, directing them to ensure that former chief ministers vacate the bungalows.

Article 14

Appearing before a Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R. Banumathi, Mr. Subramanium asked whether Article 14 (fundamental right to equality) of the Constitution allows ex-ministers to retain their official bungalows indefinitely.

S.N. Shukla, for the NGO, submitted that the court should intervene now or the practice would extend to other States. He said there were States where former ministers were not only given bungalows but also cars and staffers whose expenses were drawn from the public exchequer.

In August 2016, the court held that former chief ministers should hand over possession of the bungalows occupied by them. This judgment was on the basis of an earlier petition filed by Lok Prahari.

Except former Presidents, Vice-Presidents and Prime Ministers in the “evening of their lives,” no dignitary, even former chief ministers, can be provided government bungalows for their lifetime unless backed by a specific statutory provision, the Supreme Court had held.

Great cost

The court had observed that the public bungalows were maintained at a great cost to the exchequer and not meant to be “frittered away.” Allowing former chief ministers and their families to stay on indefinitely in public properties was a “largesse.”

Lok Prahari had come to the court challenging the validity of the Ex-Chief Ministers Residence Allotment Rules, 1997, which allowed the former ministers life-long residence.

The Uttar Pradesh government sought more time to respond. The court posted the case for January 11 to hear the government’s submissions.