Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha knocked on the doors of Delhi’s Patiala House Courts against the Rajya Sabha Secretariat after the latter cancelled the allotment of a Type-VII bungalow to him in March this year.
According to the Rajya Sabha Members Handbook, first-time MP Chadha is entitled to Type-V accommodation. MPs who are former Union Cabinet Ministers, former Governors or former Chief Ministers and former Lok Sabha Speakers, are entitled to Type-VII bungalow. Despite this, the AAP leader said that he has been ‘dispossessed’ from the official bungalow without due procedure and called the action taken by the RS Secretariat ‘illegal’ and ‘arbitrary’.
Chadha told TIE that he was not surprised that the allotment was cancelled. Calling the move a part of BJP’s vendetta politics, Raghav Chadha said it was an attempt to intimidate and silence him.
“The cancellation of my allotted house is not an administrative decision; it is a blatant reflection of the BJP’s vindictive nature. The act reeks of political bias. It attempts to suppress my fearless voice in the Rajya Sabha, to pressurise and coerce me, and prevent me from holding the government accountable on core issues. Such acts of the executives targeting selective parliamentarians tantamount to illegal and unwarranted interference in the due discharge of their functions as the Representatives of the House. With its actions, the BJP has hit rock bottom of vendetta politics and jeopardised the basic structure of the Constitution itself, which envisages fearless discussions and dissent by the elected members of the House,” he said in a written reply.
Chadha said the cancellation notice was passed without any notice to him. “It bears mentioning that the allotment of the said accommodation was done by the Hon’ble Chairman of Rajya Sabha following the due process of law, after which the possession was taken, and I moved in with my family,” he said.
The court, as of now, has passed a stay order against the dispossession and listed the matter for the next hearing on July 10.
Why Raghav Chadha is not eligible for a Type-VIII bungalow
According to the Rajya Sabha Members Handbook, which was published in April 2022, Chadha is qualified for a Type-V accommodation in the ordinary course as he is a first-time member of parliament.
The handbook further states that MPs are eligible for Type-VII accommodations, the second-highest category accessible to Rajya Sabha MPs, if they have previously held the positions of Union Cabinet Minister, Governor, Chief Minister, or Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The two aforementioned standards are not met by Chadha.
Furthermore, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariat’s respective House Committees are principally in charge of assigning accommodations to MPs. According to the present rules, former Union Ministers who are still in office as Members of Parliament are permitted to keep their accommodations as Ministers until the appropriate House Committee assigns them to their rightful category.
However, the senior officials continue to reside in larger houses, as is customary among Indian politicians. The House Committee frequently grants relaxations to highly experienced leaders.
In Raghav Chadha’s case, he was given a Type-VII bungalow in New Delhi by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat last year on a special request made by him to Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
The Type-VII bungalow was allotted on request
It may be noted that as per the April 18 order of the Patiala House Court, Chadha, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab in March last year, was allotted a Type-6 bungalow, C-1/12, Pandara Park, on July 6, 2022.
After this, the AAP leader requested Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on 29 August 2022 to allot him a Type-7 bungalow. Considering his request, he was allotted Bungalow No. AB-5, Pandara Road, New Delhi on 8 September 2022. After accepting the allotment, Chadha moved in with his parents and got some renovation work done there.
After this, on March 3, he got the notice of cancellation of the allotment.
AAP and controversy over bungalows seem to have become a norm
Prior to this, the images of the sprawling mansion of AAP chief ‘aam admi’ Arvind Kejriwal went viral on social media.
As per a report by Times Now, the mansion is located at 6 Flagstaff Road in the Civil Lines area of the National Capital. Dubbed as the ‘Sheesh Mehal’ of the Delhi Chief Minister, it is spread across a 13000 square feet area.
An investigation by Times Now Navbharat found that the official bungalow of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in Civil Lines was renovated at a cost of almost Rs 45 crore. The report, termed “Operation Sheesh Mahal,” said that Rs 44.78 crore of taxpayer funds were utilised for the renovations, raising questions about the Aam Aadmi Party’s commitment to promoting austerity.
The channel obtained documents that indicate the curtains at Arvind Kejriwal’s residence were priced at around Rs 5-8 lakh per piece. According to the documents, 23 curtains were approved for installation at the residence of Delhi CM and AAP national convenor, with a total cost of Rs 97 lakhs.
