The Hindu : Front Page : Supreme Court asks Centre to get tough with unauthorised occupants

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Thursday, Nov 17, 2005

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Supreme Court asks Centre to get tough with unauthorised occupants

J. Venkatesan

The Central Government has been granted time till January next to evict them "... If they don't understand gentleman's language, they must be dealt with in accordance with law. What is applicable to a class IV employee equally applied to them."

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to deal firmly with the remaining 380 unauthorised occupants in government bungalows and granted time till January next to evict them.

A Bench of Justice B.N. Agrawal and Justice A.K. Mathur had on October 24 expressed its displeasure when it was told that 465 VVIPs were overstaying in government bungalows and it had asked the Centre to file an additional affidavit explaining the steps taken to evict them. Subsequently 32 fresh cases came to light and the court was told that there were 497 VVIPs overstaying in their houses.

117 VVIPs have vacated

On Wednesday, Solicitor-General G.E. Vahanvati told the Bench that after October 24, 117 VVIPs had vacated their premises, including the Bihar Governor, Buta Singh, who did so yesterday.

Citing the instance of the former Union Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Jaswant Singh, staying in an accommodation meant for Ministers, even after demitting office, he said Mr. Singh was allotted two bungalows when he was External Affairs Minister. After he became the Finance Minister, he was asked to surrender one bungalow but so far he had not surrendered it.

Considering the sensitivity of the matter, he sought appropriate direction from the court for evicting the remaining 380 VVIPs. At the first instance he said notice could go to them.

Further, 88 eviction-related cases were pending before the Delhi High Court and subordinate courts in the Capital.

The Bench asked Mr. Vahanvati: "Are you powerless? Why should you bring us in the picture? If they don't understand gentleman's language, they must be dealt with in accordance with law. What is applicable to a class IV employee equally applied to them."

`Ensure complete eviction'

While appreciating the efforts taken by the Centre so far, the Bench asked Mr. Vahanvati to pursue the matter further and ensure that all those overstaying were evicted.

The Bench granted time till January 24, 2006 and in the meanwhile directed the Centre to move an application before the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court requesting him to ensure that cases pertaining to alleged unauthorised occupation of government bungalows pending before it and other subordinate courts were disposed of within two months.

20 regularised

In its additional affidavit, the Centre stated that of the 465 cases, 20 were regularised as per rules/policy and there were still 329 unauthorised occupants, whose cases were at various stages of eviction process.

It said on a closer examination of the records, 32 more cases of unauthorised occupation had come to light and eviction proceedings had been initiated against them.

Explaining the problem, the Centre said "Sitting MPs, upon ceasing to be Ministers, do not vacate the general pool houses allotted to them by virtue of their being Ministers. As a Member of Parliament they are entitled to accommodation only from the respective house pools and not from the general pool."

The court adjourned the matter to January 24, 2006.

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