The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to vacate illegally occupied government accommodations in the Capital within the next 15 days.
The High Court also pulled up the Ministry for failing to vacate about 575 illegally occupied government accommodations in the city by retired officials and former MPs, some of whom have been overstaying for over two decades now and have racked up dues of over ₹95 lakh.
“If someone is overstaying in government accommodation, you do not need a five-year plan to vacate them. Have you given them notices for recovery of dues?... Some are overstaying since 1998,” a Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C. Hari Shankar remarked.
“This casual and lethargic approach indicates connivance by your officials and connivance for such a long period amounts to conspiracy under the IPC,” the Bench remarked while warning about the possibility of lodging FIRs against the officials concerned.
The High Court’s direction came after perusing an affidavit filed by the Ministry, indicating that 11 government residences were illegally occupied by former MPs, who had together racked up dues of around ₹30 lakh.
The illegal occupants include nine former Lok Sabha MPs — A.P. Jithender Reddy, Murali Mohan Maganti, Ranjeet Ranjan, Dhananjay Mahadik, K. Gopal, Veena Devi, Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, Manohar Untwal, Udit Raj — and two Rajya Sabha MPs, K.C. Ramamurthy and Sanjay Sinh.
According to the affidavit, 244 out of the 575 units that were illegally occupied by retired government employees were ‘type-II accommodations’.
The court gave two weeks time to the Ministry to file an affidavit indicating if any recovery notice has been issued and if yes, their status.
The Bench also directed the Ministry to evict within two weeks all those illegal occupants who have not obtained a stay from a court or tribunal against their eviction.
“If no stay, put their belongings, bag and baggage on the road within two weeks, if they do not vacate on their own,” the High Court said while posting the case for further hearing on February 27.
