The Yogi Adityanath led Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday issued notices which directed six former state Chief Ministers to vacate their official bungalows within the next 15 days, PTI has reported. These notices were sent by the estate department of the UP government.
These six former Chief Ministers include Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh and N D Tiwari.
As per an Indian Express report, these notices are in line with a 7 May Supreme Court order which struck down the act which enabled the former Chief Ministers eligible for official accommodation. We had reported that the apex court had nullified Section 4(3) of the UP Ministers (Salaries, Allowances, and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981, which granted permanent accommodation to former chief ministers (CMs).
The Supreme Court while delivering the judgement had observed that former CMs couldn’t be granted such facilities owing to them not holding any office. The petition in question was filed by an NGO named Lok Prahari which had challenged amendments made to the state laws by erstwhile CM Akhilesh Yadav in 2016.
It has been claimed that, after getting wind of him requiring to vacate the bungalows, Mulayam had met CM Yogi requesting him to get around the rules the rules by allotting his and Akhilesh’s bungalows to SP leaders Ram Govind Chaudhary and Ahmed Hasan, who are the leaders of opposition in Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad respectively. Despite this the order was served by the state government.
Incidentally, a Times of India report from about a week back had claimed that the residences of the former Chief Ministers also have outstanding dues like rent and water tax. As per the report, Mulayam has a payable rent of Rs 45,335, ND Tiwari needs to pay Rs 25,149 and Rajnath Singh hasn’t paid his rent for the past six months which amounts to Rs 13,438.
Apart from them, Akhilesh needs to pay his rent for the past two months and Mayawati for the last month.
