Mulayam Singh, the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, has asked for a two year extension to continue residing in the government bungalow, citing ill-health and old age as reasons for seeking the extension.
The Samajwadi Party patriarch moved the Supreme Court seeking more time to vacate his bungalow. The move comes a week after the Uttar Pradesh government asked all the former chief ministers of the state to vacate their government bungalows within 15 days following a top court order. A law, which has since been repealed, allowed the former chief ministers to reside in the government appointed bungalows indefinitely.
He is not the only one who us reluctant to vacate the residences. On May 21, former Chief Minister and BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) chief Mayawati defied the court order saying that the bungalow was a memorial of party founder Kanshi Ram.
Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Singh Yadav also sought two years, to vacate the bungalow citing lack of suitable residential premises in Lucknow and security issues. While, Home Minister Rajnath Singh vacated the bungalow in Lucknow, which was allotted as the former chief minister of the state.
On May 7, the apex court struck down the law, namely Section 4(3) of the UP Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2016. The top court had observed that such a legislation was “arbitrary, discriminatory and unsupported by the Indian Constitution”. The court also termed the legislation as ‘unconstitutional.’
Subsequently in the May 17 order, the state government served notices to at least six former chief ministers to vacate their official residences within a fortnight. Notices were served to Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Kalyan Singh, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav and Rajnath Singh, among others.