HC sets aside order to evict Raghav Chadha from official house

The Delhi high court on Tuesday gave relief to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) parliamentarian Raghav Chadha, setting aside a city court order from earlier this month that allowed the Rajya Sabha secretariat to evicting the MP from his official residence.

The high court said the city court’s April 18 order, restraining the secretariat from evicting the AAP leader, stands revived till final adjudication by the trial court on his interim application seeking a stay against the secretariat’s March 3 letter of cancelling his allotment and dispossessing him.

After the high court order, Chadha said in a statement, “I thank the Hon’ble Delhi High Court for setting aside the order of the trial court, which was against me… Glad that in the end, truth and justice have prevailed.”

Chadha on September 8, 2022 was allotted a Type VII bungalow at Pandara Road from the Rajya Sabha pool, and took possession of the bungalow in November 2022. However, on March 3, his allotment was cancelled on the grounds that he was first-time MP, and was entitled to only a Type VI bungalow.

Subsequently, Chadha moved a Delhi trial court, which in an April 18 interim order restrained the secretariat from dispossessing the MP from the bungalow till the adjudication of his suit seeking permanent injunction.

The Rajya Sabha secretariat moved an application in the trial court, seeking a review of its interim order. Vacating the same on October 5, additional district judge Sudhanshu Kaushik observed that no one had a vested right to continue to occupy a government allotted house after the privilege was withdrawn.

On Tuesday, a single judge bench of justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani restored Chadha’s suit seeking permanent injunction against eviction, and directed the MP to approach the city court within three days with his application for interim relief while directing the trial court to first decide on the same in accordance with law.