New Delhi, Jul 22 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a plea of a former Bihar MLA against the demand for over Rs 20 lakh as penal house rent for overstaying in the government bungalow and said, “One should not hold on to government accommodation endlessly.” A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and N V Anjaria was hearing the appeal of former MLA Avanish Kumar Singh against a Patna High Court verdict.
A division bench of the high court on April 3 dismissed the intra-court appeal against the single judge bench order upholding the state’s demand for over Rs 20.98 lakh as penal house rent for the alleged unauthorised occupation of a government bungalow at Taylor Road in Patna.
“One should not hold on to government accommodation endlessly,” the CJI said.
The bench, however, granted the former lawmaker the liberty to take steps “as permissible in law.” The plea was later dismissed as withdrawn.
The division bench of the high court affirmed the decision of a single judge bench dismissing Singh’s petition on the grounds of non-maintainability.
The high court said Singh had previously filed and unconditionally withdrawn a similar petition without seeking liberty to refile the case.
Singh, a five-time MLA from the Dhaka constituency, was allotted government quarter 3 on Taylor Road in Patna during his tenure as a legislator.
Following his resignation as MLA on March 14, 2014, Singh continued to reside in the bungalow until May 12, 2016, a period during which the quarter had already been earmarked for a cabinet minister.
The former MLA said after his resignation and subsequent defeat in the 2014 parliamentary elections, he was nominated to the State Legislature Research and Training Bureau and, hence, was entitled to the same perks and privileges as a sitting MLA under a 2008 notification.
It was argued in the high court that this entitled him to continue residing in the same bungalow, and challenged the Building Construction Department’s letter dated August 24, 2016, demanding Rs 20,98,757 in penal rent for the alleged overstay.
Citing the 2008 notification, the high court observed while it extended certain privileges to members of the Research and Training Bureau, it did not authorise them to continue occupying ministerial quarters allotted during their tenure as MLAs.
“It nowhere provides that a former MLA will continue to retain, of his own will, the same government accommodation/quarter which he had earlier occupied as MLA,” the high court said. PTI SJK SJK AMK AMK AMK
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