No court reprieve for Paswans over eviction from official bungalow

NEW DELHI:  Stating that the official residential premises was not ‘party headquarters’, the Delhi High Court on Friday refused to interfere with the eviction of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) MP Chirag Paswan from a government bungalow situated in Janpath area which was originally allotted to his later father, Former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Justice Yashwant Varma dismissed the petition filed by Chirag Paswan’s mother Reena Paswan and observed that at this stage, it will have to stall the process which has started.The judge noted that the process was initiated in 2020 and the parties were given notice for the same. “The process has commenced. There are other people waiting,” the court told the petitioner’s counsel.

The petitioner’s counsel sought four months from the court to vacate the premises in Janpath in the heart of the city citing “practical difficulties” and told the court that hundreds of persons were staying there presently, including family members.

The lawyer for the Paswan family added that the present occupants have no other place to stay in the national capital and the bungalow houses a museum in the memory of late Ram Vilas Paswan and also has several artefacts. Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma informed that the process of eviction has already commenced and the occupants were put to notice several times since 2020. 

“It is done. Very few household items are left. We have commenced. It is almost done, finalised. Five trucks have left,” he said. He stated that the term of the allotment of the bungalow expired with the death of the late politician in October 2020. On Wednesday, the central government had sent a team to evict the Lok Sabha MP from the Janpath bungalow which was stated to be earmarked for Union ministers.