Delhi High Court Justice Rekha Palli recuses from AAP MP Raghav Chadha's plea on bungalow allotment

Delhi High Court judge Justice Rekha Palli on Monday recused herself from hearing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Raghav Chadha’s plea related to his official accommodation. .A Patiala House Court judge had on November 28 dismissed Chadha's application seeking to restrain the Rajya Sabha Secretariat from evicting him from a Type-VII Bungalow at Pandara road. Chadha's plea challenging the official decision asking him to shift to another accommodation was listed today before Justice Palli who ordered that it be placed before another bench on Wednesday.Justice Palli revealed that she had attended a function organised by Chadha..In September 2022, the Rajya Sabha MP had been allotted a Type-VII accommodation bungalow. However, in March 2023, he was told that the allotment had been cancelled as Type-VII was higher than his entitlement.Though he was allotted another flat, he filed a civil suit before the district court to challenge the cancellation of his earlier allotment. He argued that no power vests with the Chairman of the House Committee under any Rule or Provision to cancel a valid allotment..An Additional District Judge granted him interim relief on April 18 in 2023. However, the same was vacated later after the Rajya Sabha Secretariat said the procedure under Code of Procedure Code (CPC) was not followed while granting him interim relief.In October, the High Court in a relief to Chadha restored the protection granted to him by district court on April 18. It also asked the district court to proceed with hearing Chadha's application for interim relief..Additional Sessions Judge Sumit Dass dismissed the application last month, observing that Chadha only has the status of a licensee and cannot claim any legal right to retain the Type-VII allotment."The plaintiff has already been allotted a Type VI accommodation in sync with the Guidelines for Allotment. Thus, the plaintiff is not prejudiced in any manner. He has the allotment or the House to shift into as per his entitlement," the judge said.