Uttar Pradesh: Former CMs Akhilesh, Mulayam vacate their official bungalows

The father-son duo had moved the Supreme Court seeking "appropriate time" for vacating their official residences allocated by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Image: PTI

New Delhi: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav are vacating their official bungalows as per the Supreme Court’s order after much reluctance. Household items could be seen being transferred from their official bungalows however it has not yet been decided where they will be moved. The father-son duo had moved the Supreme Court seeking "appropriate time" for vacating their official residences allocated by the Uttar Pradesh government. They had also earlier moved the UP government seeking two years' time to vacate their official residences and shifting to their private accommodations in Lucknow. Former UP CM now Union Minister Rajnath Singh has already vacated his government residence in UP. The Chief Ministers in Uttar Pradesh were allotted lavish Bungalows at a nominal rate of 2 to 4 thousand rupees only. The top court had on May 7 held that former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh cannot retain government accommodation after demitting office and had said that a chief minister was at par with a common man once his or her term ends. Observing that a Chief Minister cannot continue to occupy public property like government bungalows which belong to people of the country, a bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi had struck down the provision saying it had the effect of creating a separate class of citizens for conferment of benefits by way of distribution of public property on the basis of the previous public office held by them. The top court had passed the order on a petition filed by an NGO Lok Prahari challenging the amendments made by the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav government to the 'UP Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981'.