A Delhi court on Friday, 6th October, vacated its earlier stay order on the eviction of AAP MP Raghav Chadha from his government bungalow in Lutyens Delhi. Additional District Judge Sudhanshu Kaushik said that Chadda is not entitled to a Type VII bungalow which he is occupying at present, and therefore allowed the Rajya Sabha Secretariat to take over the house.
The court said that Chadda has no vested right to continue to occupy the bungalow as it was only a privilege given to him as an MP.
“Plaintiff cannot claim that he has an absolute right to continue to occupy the accommodation during his entire tenure as a Member of Rajya Sabha. The allotment of Government accommodation is only a privilege given to the plaintiff and he has no vested right to continue to occupy the same even after the cancellation of allotment,” the Court said.
Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha was allotted a Type VII bungalow at Pandara Road in Delhi in September 2022. However, in March 2023, the allotment was cancelled by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat because it was higher than his entitlement as a first-time MP, and he was allotted another house.
Following this, Chadha had approached the Patiala House Court against the order, and the court had granted a stay on 18 April. After that the Rajya Sabha Secretariat filed a plea opposing the stay order, saying that the order was passed without hearing it.
After hearing the arguments, the court decided to vacate its stay order on Friday. Chadha’s counsel had argued that the Rajya Sabha Secretariat does not fall under the definition of ‘government’ or ‘public officer’. But the court rejected this argument.
Raghav Chadha had also argued that accommodation once made to a Member of Parliament cannot be cancelled under any circumstances during their entire tenure, but this was also rejected by the court. “Plaintiff cannot claim that he has an absolute right to continue to occupy the accommodation during his entire tenure as a Member of Rajya Sabha,” the court ruled.
Rajya Sabha housing committee chief CM Ramesh also pointed out that several MPs were shifted to different houses earlier, and there is no basis for Chadha’s claims. He had given several such examples during the hearing, including BJP MP Radha Mohan Das who was moved from a Type VII to a Type V bungalow.
The court also accepted that interim relief was granted to him earlier without following due process of law, and therefore vacated the stay order. “This is certainly an error apparent on the face of the record and the same needs to be corrected. Accordingly, the order dated 18.04.2023 stands recalled and the interim order stands vacated,” the court said.
Apart from the cancellation of the eviction notice, Raghav Chadha had also sought ₹ 5.50 lakh in damages for “mental agony and harassment”.
It is notable that the Rajya Sabha member of AAP was originally allotted a Type VI bungalow in July 2022, which was still above his entitlement. However, he applied for the allotment of Type-VII accommodation in August 2022, and accordingly, he was allotted a Type-VII bungalow at Pandara Road in Delhi.
As per Rajya Sabha rules, first-time MPs are entitled to Type-V accommodations. MPs which are former central cabinet ministers, former governors or former CMs, and former Lok Sabha speakers are entitled to Type VII bungalows.
Raghav Chadha recently married Bollywood actor Parineeti Chopra in a highly luxurious wedding ceremony at The Leela Palace in Udaipur. The bride was welcomed at Chadha’s official bungalow in Delhi, and it was reported that Parineeti would shift to Delhi and move into the bungalow. However, now the newlywed bride will have to shift to a different and smaller house.
