HC asks Sharad Yadav to respond to Centre’s plea on vacation of govt bungalow

The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought response of former Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav on the Centre’s plea seeking to vacate a stay on vacation of government bungalow occupied by him in the national capital as he was disqualified as Rajya Sabha MP in 2017.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh also allowed the Centre’s plea seeking an early date of hearing and directed the registry to list the matter relating to his disqualification on March 15, looking into facts of the case and the urgency involved.

The court said the response, if any, shall be filed by Yadav and Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, leader of JD(U) in Rajya Sabha, by March 13.

It also impleaded the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs as a party to proceedings after Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain submitted that the central government has direct interest in the matter as he was holding government accommodation even after being disqualified as a Member of Parliament.

The court was hearing applications filed by the ministry in a pending petition by Yadav in which he has challenged his disqualification from Rajya Sabha in 2017.

The ASG said that as the council of ministers has been expanded now, the government needs the accommodation for allotting it to newly appointed union ministers.

During the hearing, the bench said, “A person who is disqualified is staying in government accommodation. For what purpose he was disqualified?”

When the ASG said there was no stay on Yadav’s disqualification and he was no longer a Member of Parliament, the bench said, “still he is continuing with the government accommodation”.

The ASG informed the court that there was a judicial order by which Yadav was allowed to retain his official residence in Delhi.

The applications, filed through central government standing counsel Ajay Digpaul, sought to vacate the high court’s December 15, 2017 order saying Yadav was retaining the bungalow without any right or eligibility.

Yadav had approached the high court in 2017 challenging his disqualification from Rajya Sabha and as an interim, the court had allowed him to avail the official perks and facilities of an MP including the use of his official residence at Tuqhlak Road here till the petition is decided.

However, the Supreme Court in June 2018 had partially modified the high court’s order, saying that he could retain his official accommodation but would not be entitled to salary and other benefits.

Yadav has challenged his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given any chance to present his views by the Rajya Sabha chairman before he passed the order.

On the other hand, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh had sought disqualification of Yadav and his colleague Ali Anwar on the ground that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of the party directives.

Yadav joined hands with the opposition after the JD(U) president and Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar, had dumped the alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar and tied up with the BJP in July, 2017.

Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2017 and his term is scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar's term expired in 2018. Both were disqualified under the Anti-Defection Act. His plea said that the December 4, 2017 order had disqualified him in an "extremely casual and callous way".

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