On Tuesday, a notice was issued by the Directorate of Estates to evict former TMC MP Mahua Moitra from her government bungalow.
The Trinamool Congress leader, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha last month, has been asked to vacate the bungalow immediately, which had been allotted to her as an MP, they said.
“Since the eviction notice was issued to her (Moitra) on Tuesday, a team of officials from the directorate of estates will now be sent to ensure that the government bungalow is vacated at the earliest,” a source told PTI.
After a month of expelling from the Lok Sabha, the TMC leader was asked to vacate the house earlier on January 7. On January 8, a notice was issued by the DoE seeking her reply within three days, mentioning the reason for not vacating the accommodation.
While dealing with Moitra’s challenge to an official intimation, Justice Subramoniun Prasad asked her to vacate the government bungalow by January 7. She noted that the rules permitted the authorities to allow a resident to overstay for up to six months on payment of certain charges in exceptional circumstances. Another notice was also issued to her on January 12.
Mentioning that it has not made any observations on the merits of the matter, the court allowed Moitra to withdraw her petition. According to the court, DoE seems to have conducted their investigative work, and they should be the ones making any decisions. Before any eviction, the law mandates issuing notice to a resident, and the government must take steps to evict the petitioner in accordance with the law, the court added.
In context to the “unethical conduct” by Moitra, she was held guilty by Lok Sabha on December 8 last year. She was accused of accepting gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani and sharing her user ID and password for the Parliament website with him.
According to Ms. Moitra’s lawyers, she is running for the Lok Sabha elections. From the final day of the Parliament session preceding a general election until the day of results, MPs are permitted to remain in their residences, they have stated. They have contended that since Ms. Moitra has been listed as a candidate, this ought to also apply to her.
