UP House passes Bills to dodge SC ruling

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, August 30

The Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha today passed two Bills to dodge the Supreme Court order prohibiting former chief ministers from occupying government bungalows for life and trusts backed by political party holding on to prime property.

The Uttar Pradesh Ministers (salaries, allowances and miscellaneous provisions) Amendments Act, 2016, not only increases salary of the chief minister and ministers, but also allows continuation of former chief ministers in government bungalows.

“A government residence shall be allotted to a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh at his/her request for his/her life time, on payment of such rent as may be determined from time to time by the Estate Department,” the Act reads.

The Vidhan Sabha also passed “The Allotment of Houses Under Control of the Estate Department Act 2016” to regulate allotment of houses under the control of the Estate Department to its employees and officers, employees associations, judicial officers, All India Services officers, ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Justices, MLAs, MLCs, political parties, trusts and journalists, among others.

The apex court judgment of August 1 had asked six former chief ministers to vacate their bungalows within two months. It had also challenged the allotment of bungalows to private trusts or societies mainly controlled by political parties often at the absurd monthly rent of Rs 1.

The apex court order said, “Public property cannot be disposed of in favour of any one without adequate consideration. Allotment of government property to someone without adequate market rent, in the absence of any special statutory provision, would also be bad in law because the state has no right to fritter away government property in favour of private persons or bodies without adequate consideration and therefore, all such allotments, which have been made in the absence of any statutory provision cannot be upheld.”

Under the newly passed Act, the allotment to a trust shall be made for a maximum period of five years to be renewed for another five years for which the market rate would be charged as rent.