Delhi High Court halts eviction of AAP MP Raghav Chadha from government bungalow

In a major relief for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed his plea to stay his eviction from government-allotted bungalow..Justice Anup J Bhambhani today directed that an earlier stay order passed by the trial court directing the Rajya Sabha Secretariat to halt the eviction, will stand revived and will remain in force till the trial court decides Chadha's application for interim relief.Chadha has been asked to re-present the plaint before the learned trial court within three days. "...Trial Court to proceed with the matter by first deciding the application under Order XXXIX Rules 1 & 2 CPC, which stands restored before it; and thereafter to proceed with the suit, in accordance with law. In the meantime, order dated 18.04.2023 shall stand revived till the application under Order XXXIX Rules 1 & 2 CPC is decided by the learned Trial Court," the Court ordered. .In a detailed judgement, Justice Bhambhani observed that Rajya Sabha Secretariat is a distinct institution from the 'Government' and therefore, Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) has no application to Chadha's suit. "Upon a conspectus of the above, this court is of the opinion, that the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, being the permanent administrative office of the Rajya Sabha, which is one of the Houses of Parliament, is a separate and distinct institution from the Government, which (latter) is the Executive wing of the State," the Court said. .The trial court in Patiala House complex had on October vacated its stay order which had prompted Chadha to move the High Court.Additional District Judge Sudhanshu Kaushik had said that Chadha has no vested right to continue to occupy the bungalow as the same was only a privilege given to him as an MP.Judge Kaushik had cited non-compliance of Section 80 of the CPC for vacating the stay. .In September 2022, Chadha had been allotted a Type-VII accommodation bungalow at Pandara Road in Delhi. In March this year, he was told that the allotment had been cancelled as Type-VII was higher than his entitlement, and he was allotted another flat.He sought a permanent injunction against the cancellation of allotment of the Pandara Road bungalow allotment.The Patiala House Court granted him interim relief on April 18.However, this order was vacated on October 5 after the Rajya Sabha Secretariat sought a review on the ground that the procedure under Section 80(2) of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) was not followed while granting Chadha interim relief, as leave to institute the suit was not granted..Read detailed story on arguments in the case here..Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi along with advocates Warisha Farasat, Shadan Farasat, Amit Bhandari, Vivek Jain, Prashant Manchanda, Aman, Vivek Jain, Hrishika Jain and Honey Kumbhat appeared for Raghav Chadha. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Vikramjit Banerjee with Standing Counsel Sandeep Mahapatra and advocates Mrinmayee Sahu Mahapatra, Sugam Kumar Jha, Kritika Sharma, Harsh Raj, Megha Saxena, Osheen Verma, Akansha, Raghav Tandon, Anu Priya, Tribhuvan, Siddhartha Singh, Prashant Rawat and N Chamwibo Zeliang represented the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. .[Read Judgement]