SC seeks Centre’s reply on ex-ministers overstay

Overstaying in official bungalows by former ministers, ex-MPS and retired bureaucrats has again come under judicial scrutiny with Supreme Court on Friday seeking Centre’s response on the issue which was brought to its notice by former CAG Vinod Rai.

A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha took suo motu cognisance of a letter written by Rai who annexed a news report of a national daily alleging that 22 former Union ministers and retired bureaucrats are illegally occupying government accommodation.

The bench also appointed senior advocate Shyam Divan as amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter.

The news report published on 8 May named former ministers Lalu Prasad, A Raja, S M Krishna, Mukul Roy, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Subodh Kant Sahai, Mukul Wasnik, Harish Rawat and others as illegal occupiers of ministerial bungalows.

The list of illegal occupiers was given by government in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by an activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal.