The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that official bungalows cannot be allotted to former chief ministers for life - but it is unlikely to affect those who have held the top job in Bihar, where everyone who has ever served as a chief minister is entitled to an official government bungalow, according to a law passed by the Assembly during Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's first tenure in the National Democratic Alliance government (2005-2010).
Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi - both of whom have served full terms and have been re-elected - occupy 10 Circular Road in the heart of state capital, Patna. The bungalow is allotted to Rabri. Jagannath Mishra, who served a number of terms in the 1970s and 1980s, has a bungalow; so has Satish Prasad Singh, who was chief minister for three days in 1968.
Nitish Kumar himself occupies 1 Aney Marg as the chief minister and 7 Circular Road in his capacity as former chief minister - making his former deputy and BJP leader Sushil Kumar to comment that this was like a person getting a salary as well as a pension.
