Delhi High Court on Wednesday pulled up the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for its 'ineffective approach' to vacate 575 "illegally occupied" government accommodations in the national capital.
A division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar said that the illegal occupants, who have not even paid rent, had caused huge loss to the government and this act attracts charges under provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The High Court imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 against the secretary of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, which will be deducted from his salary.
As many as 575 government accommodations are being illegally occupied by various people including political leaders, retired bureaucrats and employees of different grades for several years, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs told Delhi High Court.
The ministry informed the court that crores of rupees are due to the government from the people, who are illegally occupying these government accommodations.
There are a total of 11 former MPs, including AP Jithender Reddy, Murali Mohan Maganti, Ranjeet Ranjan, Dhananjay Mahadik, Dr K Gopal, Veena Devi, Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, Manohar Untwal, Udit Raj, KC Ramamurthy and Sanjay Sinh, who illegally occupied government accommodations.
While some of them have vacated the accommodation, their dues are still pending.
( With inputs from ANI )