Even as the Supreme Court on Monday asked the former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh to vacate government bungalows after demitting offices, the order is silent on ‘trusts’ formed by the kin of political leaders who continue to occupy government accommodations. Former IAS officer SN Shukla of lok Prahari, an NGO on whose petition the apex court asked former CMs to vacate the bungalows, said the order was silent on trusts.
“The Supreme Court has quashed Section 4(3) of UP Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment Bill), 2016, which only talks about occupancy of government bungalows by former CMs,” Shukla pointed out. He said that Section 4(1) (a) of the Act pertains to ministers, including Chief Minister, to retain his residence for 15 days after he/she demits office.
“The government in 2016 brought amendments to the Act to circumvent the Supreme Court directives,” he added.
The trusts which are also operating from government bungalows have escaped the apex court’s scrutiny in its directives of May 7. However, in its order of August 1, 2016, the Supreme Court had directed, “ … regarding allotment of bungalows to private trusts or societies, it is not in dispute that all those accommodations were allotted to them at the time when there was no provision to allot government bungalows to them. Therefore, in our opinion, the said allotment cannot be held to be justified. One should remember here that 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 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 absence of any statutory provision cannot be upheld.”
Shukla said he would consult his lawyers and then decide the course of action about trusts. There are three important trusts operating from government bungalows, including lohia Trust, Vir Bahadur Singh Trust and a trust run by BJP leader Kusum Rai. Kashi Ram trust also operates from a government bungalow but is not included in the petition because it was filed in 2004 and the trust came into being much later.
However, in UP Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment Bill), 2016 Amendment Bill, the then Akhilesh Yadav government added a clause by which allotment of a bungalow to a trust should be made for a maximum period of five years and the renewal for a further period of five years.