Read Time: 05 minutes

Synopsis

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court’s order which payed way for the Rajya Sabha Secretariat to evict him from his Type VII government bungalow.

The matter was listed for urgent listing today before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula.

The Chief Justice allowed the matter to be listed for hearing tomorrow i.e. October 11, 2023.

The counsel for Chadha submitted that the Member of Parliament had been served with a notice and eviction proceedings were going on. She said that there was a stay from the trial court but now it has been removed.

On October 5, Additional District Judge Sudhanshu Kaushik vacated an earlier order that stopped the Rajya Sabha Secretariat from evicting Chadha from his government accommodation. The judge had said that Chadha had “no vested right” to continue to occupy his government bungalow after the cancellation of its allotment.

"Plaintiff (Chadha) cannot claim that he has an absolute right to continue to occupy the accommodation during his entire tenure as a Member of Rajya Sabha. The allotment of Government accommodation is only a privilege given to the plaintiff and he has no vested right to continue to occupy the same even after the cancellation of allotment," the court had said.

In June 2023, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat was directed by the court not to evict him from a Type-7 bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi, which is usually allotted to lawmakers who are former ministers, chief ministers or governors, till the pendency of his application and without following the due process of law.

".. the argument that the accommodation once made to a Member of Parliament cannot be cancelled under any circumstances during the entire tenure of Member of Parliament deserves rejection," the court had clarified in the order.

Emphasising that Chadha has "no vested right in the accommodation and his status is akin to that of a licensee", the court had said that it "could be revoked by the competent authority at any time."

Earlier, Chadha had moved the trial court, stating the cancellation of the allotment of his Type VII bungalow on Pandara Road, New Delhi, did not follow due process of law, was “arbitrary”, and that “no reasons were provided” for it.

The AAP leader had claimed that for removing an MP from the bungalow, reasons must be provided in the letter of allotment. While appealing against the eviction, Chadha had prayed that he was residing with his parents.