Raj HC strikes down law for life-long govt house, 10-member staff to ex-CMs

The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday struck down a 2017 law that provided government accommodation and a staff of 10 to former full-term chief ministers for their entire lives.

A division bench of Chief Justice Ravindra Bhat annulled the Rajasthan Ministers' Salaries (Amendment) Act, 2017 giving the "extra facilities" to former chief ministers, on a petition by journalists Milap Chand Dandiaya and Vijay Bhandari.

"There can be no question of life-time allotment of residential accommodation to former chief ministers, irrespective of their tenure of office, whether it was for one term or less than a term of five years, the bench said in its judgment.

The court held that section 7BB and 11 (2) of the Act, which gave former chief ministers a life-long entitlement to a free government accommodation, a telephone and chauffeur-driven car along with a team of 10 staffers to serve them were "arbitrary" and "contrary to Article 14" (the right to equality) of the Constitution.

Accordingly, the provisions of the impugned law is "unconstitutional", the bench ruled.

The court, however, said it would be open to the state to enact a law to provide former chief ministers the services of one secretarial staff or to sanction an amount for hiring one such personnel.

The two journalists had argued in their petition that Rajasthan being a "financially backward" state, cannot afford to provide such extravagant facilities to former chief ministers at the cost of a heavy burden on the state exchequer.

The Rajasthan Ministers' Salaries (Amendment) Act, 2017, aimed at providing for a free government accommodation and various other facilities to the state's former chief ministers, who served the state for a full five-year term, was enacted during the previous BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje.

The 2017 Act had provided for the extra facilities to the state's former chief ministers by amending the provisions of the Rajasthan Minister's Salary Act, 1956.

The bill was opposed in the assembly by the then ruling party MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari, who later quit the party following differences with Raje.

Welcoming the high court verdict, Tiwari said it was a "victory of the truth".

I had opposed the bill in the assembly. I had said it was the restoration of feudalism and privy purse. Despite that, the bill was passed by the assembly, Tiwari said in a statement.

He demanded from the government to disclose the amount spent on bungalow number 13, Civil Lines, in Jaipur occupied by former chief minister and sitting BJP MLA Vasundhara Raje.