New Delhi, Jun 5 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre for details of the number of illegally occupied government accommodation that have been vacated and the amount recovered against the rent and other dues.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said initially around Rs 25 crore were to be recovered from those who have been illegally occupying government accommodation.

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"All these accommodations should be vacated and legally payable amount should be recovered from them," the bench said and directed the Centre to file a report containing details sought by it before the next date of hearing on June 26 

The direction came while hearing an application moved by the Centre seeking an early date of hearing of the matter and modification of the court's February 5 order.

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The application was filed in a PIL by a trust which has claimed that several official residences for MPs, MLAs and bureaucrats were being allegedly illegally occupied by those who were no longer holding the offices.

In its February 5 order, the high court had rebuked the Housing Ministry for permitting many government accommodation units to be illegally occupied by retired officials and ex-MPs and had directed the Centre to get them vacated within two weeks and to initiate proceedings to recover dues from such occupants.

The high court had also rapped the ministry for not initiating recovery proceedings against the illegal occupants, some of whom had been overstaying for over a decade and had racked up dues of over Rs 95 lakh.

The directions and observations by the bench had come after perusing an affidavit filed by the ministry indicating that 11 government residences were illegally occupied by ex-MPs, who had together racked up dues of around Rs 35 lakh, and 565 units were under unauthorised occupation by retired officials and bureaucrats.     The ex-MPs named in the affidavit included former BJP MP and now Congress leader Dr Udit Raj, former TDP MP Murali Mohan Maganti and former BJP MP Manohar Utawal.

Of the 565 units, some were unauthorisedly occupied since as late as 1998.

Subsequently, the ministry told the high court in March that of the 565 illegally occupied accommodations, 347 have been vacated and 69 have been re-allotted.

Of the remaining 149, seven were put in another department's pool, in 14 there was a stay against eviction, in another 55 which were allotted to Kahmiri migrants there is a stay against eviction and 73 units are yet to be vacated, the ministry had told the court.

It had also told the bench that eviction orders have been passed in respect of the 73 illegally occupied units and necessary steps will be taken to vacate them.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)