Former CMs will have to pay market rent for govt houses: Uttarakhand HC

The Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday ruled against the state law that allows former chief ministers to stay in government bungalows without paying the market rent.

Declaring the Uttarakhand Former Chief Ministers Facility Act 2019 as 'ultra vires', Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice RC Khulbeare of the high court say the provisions of the Act are in violation of Article 14 (right to equality) and the doctrine of separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution, the petitioner's counsel Kartikey Hari Gupta said. Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RELK), a Dehradun-based NGO, had challenged the provisions of the Act.

The state government had brought an ordinance to introduce the Act which was challenged by RLEK in the high court on the ground that it was unconstitutional as it had been issued with the sole purpose of overruling an earlier judgment of the high court asking former CMs to pay market rent for government houses allotted to them.

The former chief ministers will now be liable to pay the rent and the state can also recover from them the money spent over other facilities given to them, the petitioner's counsel said.