Vacate official bungalows in 15 days: Yogi Adityanath government's notice to 6 ex-CMs

LUCKNOW: Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has issued notices to six former state chief ministers to vacate official bungalows in compliance with the Supreme Court orders.

According to ANI, the six chief ministers includes Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

The notices have been sent by the Estate Department, which asked the former chief ministers to vacate the bungalows in 15 days.

Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav and Kalyan Singh are among those who have been served with the notice.

Interestingly, Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh had recently met CM and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongman Yogi Adityanath triggering speculations of new political equations. However, reports said that the veteran politician met Adityanath over recent Supreme Court ruling denying official bungalows to former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh.

The Samajwadi Party leader had met the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on Wednesday at the latter’s official residence in Lucknow and the meeting went on for almost half-an-hour, reported Prabhat Khabar.

Earlier this month, the apex court had said that former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh cannot retain government accommodation after demitting office, observing that a chief minister was at par with a common man once his or her term ends.

The Supreme Court quashed the law passed by the Uttar Pradesh government granting permanent residential accommodation to former chief ministers of the state.

While striking down the law, the apex court said that Section 4(3) of Uttar Pradesh ministers (salaries, allowances and miscellaneous provisions) Act, 2016 was unconstitutional. The law was passed in August 2016, by the then Akhilesh Yadav-led state government. 

(With ANI inputs)