U'khnad HC asks govt to calculate rent dues of former CM's

The Uttarakhand High Court asked the state government Wednesday to submit before it the amount to be recovered from former chief ministers for occupying government bungalows for years after demitting office.

The direction in this regard was issued by a division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Ramesh Chandra Khulbe.

They asked the Advocate General appearing on behalf of the state government to calculate the amount in accordance with the market rate and submit it before the court before the next date of hearing of a PIL seeking recovery of the amount from the respondents.

Though the court did not set the next date of hearing the PIL, it said the matter will be heard soon after the winter vacation comes to an end in mid February, Counsel for the petitioner Kartikeya Hari Gupta said.

The Government of Uttarakhand and former chief ministers ND Tiwari, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Vijay Bahuguna have been made respondents in the petition.

All the former CMs had to vacate the government quarters after the court's intervention in the matter following a PIL filed by Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, a city based NGO headed by noted social activist Avadhesh Kaushal.

The PIL seeks recovery of the amount from the former CMs on the plea that it was a burden on the state's coffers.

Submitting its own calculations, the NGO claimed that the former CMs including those who are no more (Nityanand Swami and ND Tiwari) together should pay more than Rs 13.33 crore by way of rent, electricity, phone, security and other facilities.

Taking note of the fact that three of the former CMs had paid their rent dues at the rate of Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,200 per month, the court said it will examine the adequacy of the amount when the matter comes up next for hearing.