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Synopsis

The bench of Justice Girish Kathpalia of the Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed expelled Lok Sabha member and TMC leader Mahua Moitra's plea seeking interim stay on her eviction from government allotted bungalow.

"This court is not inclined to invoke jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India at this stage to restrain the operation of the impugned eviction order. Accordingly, the application stands dismissed," the court ordered. 

"The petitioner having been allotted the government accommodation incidental to her status as a Member of Parliament and that status having ceased upon her expulsion, which expulsion has not been stayed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court despite hearing afforded to her, presently she has no right to continue in the said government accommodation, and accordingly, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, she cannot be granted protection as sought," the court said.

On Tuesday, i.e., January 16, Moitra had been instructed by the Directorate of Estates to immediately vacate the government-allotted bungalow, which was allocated to her as a Member of Parliament.

On January 4, the high court asked the TMC leader to approach the DoE with a request to allow her to continue to occupy the government accommodation allotted to her.

Justice Subramoniun Prasad, while dealing with Moitra’s challenge to an official intimation asking her to vacate the government bungalow by January 7, noted that the rules permitted the authorities to allow a resident to overstay for up to six months on payment of certain charges in exceptional circumstances.

"Move a representation before the Directorate of Estates, and their action will be taken in accordance with the law," the judge had said.

Consequently, the court allowed Moitra to withdraw the present petition while observing that the law mandated providing notice to a resident before her eviction from a premises. "Needless to say that the government will take steps to evict the petitioner in accordance with the law," the court had added. It had also ordered that it will be open to the Directorate of Estates to apply its own mind on the facts and circumstances of the case. 

Expulsion from Lok Sabha

Moitra's expulsion from parliament on December 8 followed a recommendation by an Ethics Committee, which found her guilty of accepting cash in exchange for posing questions in parliament. The TMC leader challenged her expulsion in the Supreme Court, and the matter is set for consideration on January 3, 2024.

Moitra was expelled on Friday December 8, 2023, on the basis of a report of the ethics committee that recommended the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in a "cash-for-query" case was introduced. 

On November 9, the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, headed by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar, adopted a report recommending the expulsion of the Trinamool Congress leader from the Lok Sabha. The report was adopted by a 6-4 vote. The Congress MP Praneet Kaur voted in favor of the report, while the other four opposition MPs submitted dissent notes.

Case Title: Mahua Moitra v. Directorate of Estate & Anr.