Trinamool’s Mahua Moitra asked to vacate government bungalow immediately

Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December 2023, was on Tuesday asked to vacate her government bungalow immediately.

The order was issued by the Directorate of Estates. The TMC leader was earlier asked to vacate the house by January 7 after her allotment was cancelled.

On January 8, the DoE had issued a notice seeking her reply within three days as to why she had not vacated her government accommodation. Another notice was also issued to her on January 12.

On January 4, the Delhi High Court asked the TMC leader to approach the DoE with a request to allow her to continue to occupy the government accommodation allotted to her.

Justice Subramoniun Prasad, while dealing with Moitra’s challenge to an official intimation asking her to vacate the government bungalow by January 7, 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.

The court allowed Moitra to withdraw her petition and noted it had not made any observations on the merits of the matter. It said the DoE should decide her case after applying its own mind.

It added that the law mandates issuing a notice to a resident before eviction and the government has to take steps to evict the petitioner in accordance with law.

Moitra was held guilty of “unethical conduct” and expelled from Lok Sabha on December 8 last year for allegedly accepting gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani and sharing her user ID and password of the Parliament website with him.