The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the contempt of court proceedings against Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in connection with the alleged non-payment of the market rent for the government bungalow allocated to him as a former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and also comprising Justices KM Joseph and Krishna Murari, stayed the contempt proceedings against Koshiyari on his petition against the notice issued to him by the Uttarakhand High Court.
The bench, after hearing Koshyari's petition, issued a notice to the Uttarakhand government and tagged his petition with a pending plea challenging the basis at which market rent rates were decided by the Uttarakhand High Court.
Koshyari had moved the apex court on November 17 against the notice issued by the High Court on a plea seeking to initiate contempt proceedings against him for not paying the market rent of a government bungalow allocated to him as a former Chief Minister.
Koshyari, who served as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand between 2001 and 2002, had sought that the apex court should also grant special leave to him to file the appeal against the judgement of May 03, 2019, order of the Uttarakhand High Court.
A plea filed before the Uttarakhand High Court had alleged that Koshyari has till date not paid the market rent for a government bungalow allocated to him.
Acting on the plea, the High Court had on October 20, 2020, sought Koshyari's reply for starting a contempt proceeding against him for his failure to follow a court order to pay market rent for a government bungalow allocated to him as a former Chief Minister.
The plea filed before the Uttarakhand High Court had accused Koshyari of committing "willful non-compliance" of the State High Court's May 3, 2019, order asking him to pay the market rent of the bungalow occupied by him as former Chief Minister within six months of the direction.
( With inputs from ANI )
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