363 VIP squatters evicted, says Centre

November 25, 2014 02:17 am | Updated November 16, 2021 07:03 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

A view of an MP’sbungalow in New Delhi. File photo

A view of an MP’sbungalow in New Delhi. File photo

With the NDA government declaring its “tremendous feat” of having managed to vacate 363 of 374 former MPs from official bungalows here, the Supreme Court said on Monday it could not further waste its time over the remaining “one or two” VIP squatters.

The court had taken up the case suo motu on the basis of a letter by the former Comptroller and Auditor-General Vinod Rai, alleging “indiscriminate” abuse of discretionary powers by the Urban Development Minister and the Secretary to allow politicians and others to overstay in government bungalows in the Lutyens’ Zone of Delhi.

Disposing of the case, a Bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and A.K. Sikri said all that was “alarming” about the issue had come to an end.

The CJI said with only “one or two stray incidents” of VIP squatting left to deal with for the government, even the term “indiscriminate” would not fit the present situation.

Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar said only five or six VIPs were under the government scanner.

Of these, the families of the former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and the former Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola are due to vacate the bungalows occupied by them in January and February, respectively. While the former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad was to vacate on October 31, the former MP Arjun Singh’s family has time till September 2016.

“Why was such a long period of relief given to these people?” Chief Justice Dattu asked.

Mr. Kumar assured the court that the government was taking action. “We have vacated 363 defeated MPs out of 374 found squatting. It is a tremendous feat... they continue to occupy on some pretext or the other. But we are happy to get back the houses,” he submitted.

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