The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to come up with a reasonable time by which an ailing former Union Minister Sharad Yadav can vacate his government bungalow. A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked the Union to take a purely humanitarian approach and allow Mr. Yadav some time to leave the residence.
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Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for Mr. Yadav, said his client was undergoing dialysis and his health had been critical at some point in the recent past. The senior lawyer said Mr. Yadav’s term was coming to an end in July and he was willing to give an undertaking to vacate the bungalow by then.
“This man has to undergo dialysis every other day. He was on a ventilator during COVID time and is suffering from various ailments. I am not saying I will not vacate the bungalow but give me some reasonable time,” Mr. Sibal said.
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‘Allotted to Minister’
Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain countered the bungalow was already allotted to Union Minister Pashupati Nath Paswan, who has not been able to move in because of Mr. Yadav’s stay.
The court said it would rather not delve into politics and confine itself to a humanitarian point of view.
The 75-year-old Mr. Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2017. He had moved the top court challenging an order of the Delhi High Court directing him to vacate within 15 days the government bungalow as he was disqualified from the Upper House in 2017 on the application of his then party Janata Dal (United).