Court Grants Relief to Raghav Chadha, Allows Him to Remain in Government Bungalow

New Delhi:

AAP MP Raghav Chadha will not have to vacate his government bungalow after the Delhi High Court set aside a trial court order today.

Mr Chadha had appealed a trial court order that lifted an interim order preventing the Rajya Sabha secretariat from removing him from the government bungalow allotted to him.

In a post on X, the Aam Aadmi Party MP said, “This fight isn’t about a house or a shop, it’s about saving the Constitution.”

“The cancellation of this allotment was a clear case of political vendetta, aimed at silencing a young, vocal parliamentarian… Opposition voices, those who represent the concerns of millions of Indians, are being deliberately targeted,” Mr Chadha said in the post on X.

He said he has given two speeches in parliament criticising the BJP-led centre, and his official accommodation was cancelled after his first speech.

“After my second speech, my membership as a parliamentarian was suspended. No parliamentarian can function if he is made to worry about what his forthright and honest speech will cost him next,” Mr Chadha said in the statement he posted on X.

Ye makan ya dukan ki nahin, Samvidhan ko bachane ki ladhayi hai
In the end, truth and justice have prevailed

My statement on the Hon’ble Delhi High Court’s ruling to set aside the unjust order to evict me from my official residence. pic.twitter.com/fA7BJ2zLYm

— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) October 17, 2023

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani has revived an April 18 order of the trial court, which had directed the Rajya Sabha Secretariat not to evict Mr Chadha.

The trial court had ruled that Mr Chadha does not have an absolute right to continue to occupy his government bungalow during his entire tenure as a Rajya Sabha MP, even after the cancellation of the allotment.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Mr Chadha’s case, challenging his suspension from the Rajya Sabha. Mr Chadha was suspended for allegedly forging signatures of other MPs and proposing their names for a committee without their consent.

The court has instructed the Rajya Sabha secretariat to address the accusations and has also requested the assistance of the Attorney General of India R Venkataramani. The case will be resumed on October 30.

Mr Chadha was suspended from the Rajya Sabha in August after four MPs accused him of including their names in a committee without their consent.