AAP MP Raghav Chadha Moves Delhi HC Over Bungalow Allotment Cancellation

New Delhi: On Monday, AAP MP Raghav Chadha approached the Delhi High Court, seeking to prevent authorities from taking action regarding a letter canceling the allotment of his government bungalow.

When the plea was heard by a bench of Justices Rekha Palli and Saurabh Banerjee, Justice Palli recused herself from the case.

The court scheduled the petition for hearing before another bench on December 18, subject to the acting chief justice's orders.

"List the matter before another bench of which one of us (Justice Rekha Palli) is not a member," it said.

Rajya Sabha secretariat had issued the letter cancelling the allotment of the bungalow to the Rajya Sabha MP on March 3, 2023.

The high court in 2023 granted relief to Chadha by reviving a trial court's stay on his eviction by the Rajya Sabha secretariat.

Chadha challenged the trial court's 2023 order vacating its own order on a review plea filed by the RS secretariat.

The high court had asked Chadha to present the plaint before the trial court again and directed it to proceed with the matter by first deciding the interim relief application, which stood restored before it.

On November 26, the trial court dismissed the AAP leader's interim injunction application in his civil suit and said there was no legal justification for him to retain the accommodation.

Chadha was allotted a "type 6" bungalow at Pandara Park in July, 2022, but he made a representation to the Rajya Sabha chairman on August 29, 2022, requesting for a "type 7" accommodation. He was then allotted another bungalow on Pandara Road from the Rajya Sabha pool.

However, in March 2023, the allotment was cancelled.

As a first-time MP, Chadha is entitled to a "type-5" accommodation in the normal course, according to the Rajya Sabha members handbook released in April, 2022.

The handbook says MPs who are former union cabinet ministers, former governors or former chief ministers, and former Lok Sabha speakers, are entitled to type-7 bungalows, the second largest category available to Rajya Sabha members.

(with agency inputs)