Rajasthan HC upholds allocation of Civil Lines bungalow to former CM Vasundhara Raje

JAIPUR: In a major relief to Vasundhara Raje, the Rajasthan High Court dismissed a contempt petition against former chief secretary D B Gupta and upheld the allotment of a bungalow in Civil Lines to the former chief minister.
The division bench of Justice Pankaj Bhandari and Justice Anoop Dhand gave the order after hearing the contempt petition filed by Milapchand Dandiya.
The court said that there was no wilful contempt in this case and said the then chief secretary D B Gupta, who was made a party in the case, was not guilty of contempt in allocating the bungalow.
The contempt petition was filed by Dandiya after the Congress government allocated 13, Civil Lines bungalow to Raje in Jaipur. The court had reserved the decision on the petition after completing the hearing on March 8.
'No direction to impose penalty for overstaying'
Jaipur: The court said in its order on September 4, 2019, there was no direction to impose a penalty for overstaying or to vacate the bungalow. It had only struck down the provision of providing life-long facilities to former chief ministers.
Raje had also not vacated the bungalow and the petitioner submitted that she be charged Rs 10,000 as damages per day for overstaying in the bungalow from September 4, 2019 to August 1, 2020.
The Ashok Gehlot government then allotted the same bungalow to her as a senior MLA.
The government also submitted an additional affidavit in September 2020 saying that the rules have been amended to provide such facilities to senior MLAs, making it clear that Raje has been given the bungalow as a senior MLA and not as a former chief minister.