SC to hear JD(U)'s plea tomorrow to vacate Sharad Yadav's official residence

The Supreme Court said today it will hear tomorrow a plea by Janata Dal (United) challenging the Delhi High Court order by which it had allowed the party's former president and rebel MP Sharad Yadav to retain his official residence in New Delhi.

On May 18, the top court agreed to hear the appeal by JD(U)'s Rajya Sabha MP Ramchandra Prasad Singh and issued a notice to Yadav. Today, a vacation bench of Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ashok Bhushan said it will the hear the plea tomorrow.

Singh, the party's leader in the upper house had challenged an order of the high court passed on December 15 by which it had refused to grant interim stay on Yadav's disqualification as a Rajya Sabha MP and allowed him to draw his salary, allowances, perks and retain the bungalow till the pendency of his plea.

The interim order of the high court had come on Yadav's plea challenging his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given any chance to present his case by the Rajya Sabha chairman before passing an order against him and his colleague and then MP Ali Anwar on December 4.

Singh had sought their disqualification before the high court on the grounds that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of the party's directives.

Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped the grand alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar and tied up with the BJP in July last year.

Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 and his term was scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar's term as a Rajya Sabha MP expired in April. Both were disqualified under the anti-defection law.