'Error to vacate stay', Delhi HC halts Raghav Chadha's bungalow eviction

NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court on Tuesday revived a trial court's order permitting MP Raghav Chadha to stay in the government bungalow allotted to him, halting the eviction process against the AAP leader.
The high court gave Chadha three days to present his plea again before the trial court.
Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani allowed Chadha's appeal and revived the trial court's April 18 order which had prevented the Rajya Sabha secretariat from evicting him.
Chadha was on July 6 last year allotted a Type 6 bungalow but he made a representation to the Rajya Sabha chairperson on August 29, requesting for a Type 7 accommodation. He was then allotted another bungalow. In March 2023, the allotment was cancelled.
The high court said the trial court had made an error by vacating its stay over Chadha's alleged non-compliance of certain provisions of the Civil Procedure Code.
The MP had challenged the trial court's decision this month of lifting its stay on a review plea filed by the Rajya Sabha secretariat.
The trial court had said in its order that Chadha cannot claim an absolute right to occupy a government bungalow during his tenure as a Rajya Sabha member. While the secretariat had defended the trial court's decision which had cleared the decks for his eviction, the high court held that the April 18 stay order stands revived till the time the trial court decides on Chadha's application for interim relief.
The trial court had returned Chadha's plaint on the ground that he failed to comply with provisions of Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code, which says no suit shall be instituted against a government or a public officer in respect of any act purporting to be done by him in his official capacity. The other ground on which the plaint was returned was the lack of urgency that Chadha failed to demonstrate for immediate relief.
The high court pointed out that the RS secretariat, being the permanent administrative office of the Rajya Sabha, is a separate institution from the government.
"In the present matter, therefore, it cannot be said that the word 'Government' appearing in section 80 CPC would include the RS secretariat. Accordingly, in the opinion of this court, section 80 CPC has no application to the suit filed by the appellant, in which the sole defendant is the Rajya Sabha secretariat, against whom relief has been sought for in the suit," Justice Bhambhani noted.