Arvind Kejriwal to get appropriate bungalow in 10 days: Centre tells HC

New Delhi, Sep 25
The Centre informed the Delhi High Court on Thursday that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will be given an ‘appropriate’ bungalow in the next 10 days.

The submission was made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta before Justice Sachin Datta, who said that an order will be passed after taking his statement on record.

The respective counsels, however, argued on the type of bungalow to be allotted to former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

Rahul Mehra, the lawyer representing the AAP, demanded allotment of a Type 8 or Type 7 bungalow for Kejriwal, a claim contested by the Solicitor General, who stated that common people do not fight for a Type 8 bungalow.

He, however, assured the court that Kejriwal would be allotted an 'appropriate' government bungalow in Delhi within the next ten days as per the rules.

In the previous hearing, the High Court had pulled up the government for the delay in the decision to allot the residential accommodation to Kejriwal. It said that the allotment of residential accommodation must be transparent and cannot be based purely on the 'whims' of the authorities.

At the time of the hearing, the Centre’s counsel had told the court that the Type 7 bungalow at 35, Lodhi Estate, which the AAP had proposed to allot to Kejriwal, was allotted to Union Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary. The Delhi High Court then directed that the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and the Director of the Directorate of Estates be present in today’s hearing via video conferencing.

Notably, AAP has been demanding a government residence for Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital, given the fact that he is the president of a recognised national party.

In its petition, it has also cited the guidelines for allotment of accommodation, which state that the president of a recognised national party is entitled to a government residence in Delhi if they neither own a house nor have one allotted in any other official capacity.