Court restrains AAP MP Raghav Chadha from eviction from his bungalow above his grade

New Delhi: In an interim relief to AAP MP Raghav Chadha, a Delhi court has directed the Rajya Sabha secretariat not to evict him from the Type-7 bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi, which is usually allotted to former ministers, chief ministers and MPs. goes. or Governors, pending his application and without following due process of law. The court will now decide the maintainability of Chadha’s application against the March 3, 2023 order of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat canceling the bungalow allotment to him on July 10. No one was immediately available from the Rajya Sabha secretariat for comment on the judicial order and the MP’s petition.

During the proceedings, the counsel for the Rajya Sabha Secretariat objected to the maintainability of the application. Additional District Judge Sudhanshu Kaushik, after hearing the arguments of both the sides on June 1, had fixed the date of July 10 for the hearing. The court had in April directed the secretariat not to evict Chadha from the bungalow till the application is pending “without due process of law”.

The judge had said, “At this stage, I do not find it expedient to comment on the contentions raised by the plaintiff that the allotment once made by the Secretariat cannot be canceled under any circumstances during the entire tenure of the Member of Parliament.” However, I find force in the second part of the argument advanced by the plaintiff that no person can be evicted without following due process of law, the judge said.

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“Since, the plaintiff (Chadha) is occupying an accommodation, which falls under the category of public premises, the defendant (Rajya Sabha Secretariat) is bound to follow the due process of law,” he said. The judge noted Chadha’s submission that the secretariat was acting in “haste” and there was a strong possibility that it could be ousted without following due process of law.

“In these circumstances, there is a prima facie case made out for issuing directions to the effect that the plaintiff shall not be evicted from the bungalow without due process of law,” the judge said. He said that the balance of convenience was also in favor of Chadha as he was staying in the accommodation with his parents.

“The plaintiff will indeed suffer irreparable loss, if he is evicted without due process of law. Accordingly, the defendant is directed not to evict the plaintiff from the bungalow without due process of law, till the next date of hearing.”

Chadha’s counsel had urged the court to grant an ex-parte ad-interim injunction against the Secretariat, claiming that it was “hell bent” to evict Chadha from the allotted accommodation. He said that Chadha would suffer irreparable damage if the injunction was not granted.

The court noted that no order has been passed by the estate officer and eviction proceedings have not been initiated. Chadha was allotted a ‘Type 6’ bungalow at Pandara Park on July 6 last year, but made a request for ‘Type 7’ accommodation to the Rajya Sabha chairman on August 29.

He was then allotted another bungalow on Pandara Road from the Rajya Sabha pool. However, the allotment was canceled in March this year. Chadha sought an injunction to restrain the secretariat from taking any further action consequent to the March 3 letter and to restrain it from allotting the bungalow to any other person.

The AAP MP also demanded a compensation of Rs 5.5 lakh from the Secretariat for causing mental agony and torture to him. As a first-time MP, Chadha is normally entitled to Type-5 accommodation, according to the Handbook of Rajya Sabha Members released in April 2022.

The handbook states that MPs who are former Union cabinet ministers, former governors or former chief ministers and former Lok Sabha Speaker are entitled to Type-7 bungalows, the second highest category available to Rajya Sabha MPs.