HC rebukes Centre for illegally occupied govt bungalows, orders their forthwith vacation

Rebuking the Housing Ministry for permitting 576 government accommodation units to be illegally occupied by retired officials and ex-MPs, the Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the Centre to get them vacated within two weeks and to initiate proceedings to recover dues from such occupants.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar also rapped the ministry for not initiating recovery proceedings against the illegal occupants, some of whom have been overstaying for over a decade and have racked up dues of over Rs 95 lakh till date.

"If someone is overstaying in government accommodation, you do not need a five year plan to vacate them. Have you given them notices for recovery of dues? Nearly 600 government accommodations were not vacated. Some are overstaying since 1998. Almost every one of them has to pay dues of lakhs of rupees. Why have (you) not vacated them? Why no notice for recovery issued to them?
Referring to the huge amount of unrecovered dues, the bench said, "Prima facie the impression is you (ministry/officials) are making money from this. Someone is happy with this. Someone is increasing his funds. Else why would you allow such persons to continue in occupation. If they are occupying the accommodations for over a decade, it is obvious you have not given them a notice."