Bungalow issue:'Cong MPs should have waited till poll results'

Delhi High Court today observed that "as a matter of propriety", Congress MPs Kumari Selja and Ambika Soni ought to have "held their hands" with regard to allotment of Type-VIII bungalows to them till declaration of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajiv Shakdher made the observation while deciding a question whether a single judge of the high court was right in observing that the allotments ought to have awaited the conclusion of the general elections.
"The question, therefore is: was the learned Single Judge, right, in effect, observing that the allotments ought to have awaited the conclusion of the general elections, which were held between April 7, 2014 and May 12, 2014. We are of the view that as a matter of propriety, the appellants ought to have held their hands till the declaration of the results," the court said.

The single-judge's observations of July 30 had come on a plea by the Congress leaders who had challenged the Centre's decision to evict them from the type-VIII bungalows in Lutyen's Delhi they were staying in.
Apart from making the observations, the single judge had held that they were not entitled to the accommodation and also imposed costs of Rs 25,000 on each of them.
The MPs had challenged the single-judge's July 30 order, including the observations made against them and the cost imposed.

The high court in its judgment today expunged some of the observations made by the single-judge, saying they "were not, perhaps necessary, in order to reach a decision qua the central issues raised in the petition".

It also set aside the costs imposed on the two Rajya Sabha MPS.
Both the MPs had earlier told the court that they had no problem vacating their larger type-VIII bungalows and move to type-VII quarters, to which they were entitled.