An application by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and former Member of Parliament (MP) Mahua Moitra was declined by the Delhi High Court on thursday for the interim stay on her eviction from government allotted bungalow in New Delhi after she was expelled from the parliament.
Justice Girish Kathpalia,in a latre night order held that the residence was alloted to Moitra due to her position as an MP and that status ceased once she was expelled from parliament.
The Trinamool Congress leader was issued an notice for eviction by the Directorate of Estates (DoE) on Tuesday.
The TMC leader was instructed to vacate the bungalow immediately, which had been allotted to her as an Member of the Parliament.
The order was passed by DoE which manages and maintains the Central government’s official and residential properties.
The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry had sent her another notice to vacate the house and as per the reports a team of officials from the directorate of estates will now be sent to ensure that the government bungalow is vacated at the earliest.
On December 11, a letter was issued to Mahua Moitra by the government for vacating her house by January 7, 2024. The letter was issued after she was expelled from parliament on December 8.
Moitra had challenged the order arguing that the legality of her expulsion as a Member of Parliament (MP) was presently pending adjudication before the Supreme Court of India which makes the the Directorate of Estates’ notice illegal.
On December 8, the Lok Sabha passed a resolution to expel Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra from the membership of the House based on the Report of the Ethics Committee over ‘cash for query’ complaint.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had written to the Lok Sabha Speaker stating how Moitra had put forth questions in Parliament on behalf of business tycoon Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for cash and gifts.
It was also claimed that these questions were related to the Adani Group which is a competitor of Hiranandani.
The complain by Dubey finds its roots from a letter he received from Jai Dehadrai, who had filed a complaint to the CBI stating to have some irrefutable evidence that Moitra took bribes from Hiranandani.
As per the claim made by Dehadrai, Moitra gave complete access to her online Lok Sabha account to Hiranandani, who misused the same to post Parliamentary Questions of his liking. As per the claims, these questions consisted of 50 of the 61 questions that Moitra has asked.
A notice was earlier sent to Dubey, Dehadrai and several media organisations by Moitra. The expelled Trinamool MP had refuted all the allegations and said that the allegations are false and designed to curry political mileage and to extract a personal vendetta against her.