New Delhi: Five former Uttarakhand chief ministers owe the state Rs 2.8 crore for overstaying their welcome at government bungalows. But instead of recovering the arrears, the BJP-led government has brought in an ordinance to provide them relief in the form of ‘The Uttarakhand Former Chief Minister Facility (Residential and other facilities) Ordinance, 2019’.
Under it, many free facilities were offered to the former CMs – Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Vijay Bahuguna and late N.D. Tiwari – and the government provided that “rent determined by the government” be charged from them.
Academic and activist has through his NGO challenged this in the Uttarakhand high court through a PIL and sought that the former CMs be made to pay market rent for the bungalows they enjoyed even after demitting office.
Avdhash Kaushal, who taught public administration at the Academy of Civil Servants in Mussoorie before moving on to head an NGO, Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), says: “Strange are its ways. It has been borrowing money to pay staff salaries. It has also increased the power and water tariff to bridge the widening deficit. And yet it wants to forgo the Rs 2.80-crore penalty imposed by the high court on five former chief ministers – all of whom were last with the party.”
‘Government wanted Rs 1,000 per bungalow in rent’
Kaushal, who the Union Ministry of Rural Development appointed to monitor the rural job guarantee scheme NREGA, said the occupation of big bungalows by these former chief ministers was “completely illegal”.
“They were not even paying for the water or electricity which was being provided. There was also no law in the state to allow such use of government facilities to former CMs. So we urged the government to charge market rate from these former CMs. But what the government did instead was that it said these ex-CMs would be charged Rs 1,000 per month,” he said.
Kaushal said this offer of the Trivendra Singh Rawat government was absolutely illogical.
Trivendra Singh Rawat. Photo: Facebook/Trivendra Singh Rawat
HC ordered former CMs to pay Rs 2.80 crore in market rent
“We then pointed out that for Rs 1,000, you cannot even get a jhonpri (hut), how then can you charge this rate for an entire bungalow. We also went to the high court. It was only then that the government agreed to a new market rate. As per that, the ex-CMs were directed by the high court to pay arrears of over Rs 2.80 crore.”
In its May 3 order, the high court directed the former chief ministers to pay Rs 2.8 crore within six months for the buildings they occupied. The court also directed that the money due and payable for amenities such as water, electricity, petrol, oil and lubricants, etc. that were provided by the Uttarakhand government be recalculated within four months and be intimated to them. The former CMs were told to pay this amount as well within six months from such intimation.
‘BJP government brought an amendment to shield former CMs’
Then, instead of making the former CMs pay up, the BJP government brought the Uttarakhand Former Chief Minister Facility (Residential and other facilities) Ordinance, 2019.
This too has been challenged by RLEK through a PIL before the high court. Its counsel, Kartikey Hari Gupta, argued that the ordinance was “unconstitutional and has been issued with the sole purpose of overruling the judgment of the high court”.
He also reasoned that “this kind of legislative power is not available to the legislature” and that it “cannot pass a law just to overrule the judgment of the court.”
Many CMs took government accommodation despite having own houses
The PIL had also stated that the Uttar Pradesh ex-Chief Minister Allotment of Residences Rules 1997 were not applicable to these former CMs of Uttarakhand. It claimed that many of them occupied government bungalows despite having their own houses.
During the last hearing, Gupta also filed an appeal that Koshiyari, who is now the governor of Maharashtra, be also made a party to the case. The request, he said, was allowed by the court.
Kaushal said the BJP government in Uttarakhand also paid no heed to the fact that a similar attempt in Uttar Pradesh – to provide such bungalows and facilities to former CMs – had been struck down by the Supreme Court. “In Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav had passed a law in the assembly to the effect, but even that was struck down by the Supreme Court,” he said, stating that a similar fight will be taken up if the need arises.
In 2018, SC struck down similar law passed by UP assembly
It is pertinent to note that in May 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a similar amendment passed by the Uttar Pradesh Assembly for allowing former CMs to retain government accommodation even after demitting office.
The bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi had termed the amendment “ultra vires” to the constitution saying it transgressed the concept of equality under the constitution. It also held the amendment to be “arbitrary” and “discriminatory”.
This time, it was NGO Lok Prahari that had challenged the amendments made by then Akhilesh Yadav government to the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981.