Uttrakhand: Ex-CMs vacate houses, court tells govt to calculate dues

Veteran leader N D Tiwari vacated the government bungalow allotted to him on FRI campus here on Thursday, following a direction by Uttarakhand High Court to former Chief Ministers to surrender such accommodation.

Tiwari withdrew his application for extension of the deadline till March 31 and told the court that he had already vacated it, the petitioner's counsel Kartikeya Hari Gupta told PTI.

The court directed the state government to calculate rent and other occupation charges of the ex-CMs as per market rate and submit their calculations to the court in two weeks' time, Gupta said.

In an application moved to the court through his lawyer on February 14, Tiwari had asked for time till March 31 to vacate the bungalow saying he was unable to shift to a new accommodation due to infirmities of old age and prevailing cold.

However, the petitioner had objected to it saying Tiwari was just being evasive.

Other former CMs apart from Tiwari who had been made respondents in the case also informed the court that they had vacated the bungalows allotted to them and hence the petition can be closed.

However, justices Rajeev Sharma and Sudhanshu Dhulia refused to close the case as the rent and expenses incurred over granting other facilities like free phones, electricity etc were yet to be recovered from the ex-CMs.