Lok Prahari v. State of U.P. & Ors.
Background
Lok Prahari, a public-welfare society, filed a PIL alleging that several former Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh continued to occupy large government bungalows (Type VI accommodation) for years after leaving office, under the Ex-Chief Ministers Residence Allotment Rules, 1997. The petitioner argued these non-statutory Rules were invalid because they conflicted with the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981, which only entitled a Chief Minister to retain official accommodation for 15 days after demitting office.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that the 1997 Rules, being mere executive/administrative instructions rather than statutory rules, could not override the 1981 Act, which clearly limited post-office occupation of government housing to 15 days. Since the Rules permitted former Chief Ministers to retain bungalows indefinitely (effectively for life), they were in direct conflict with the statute and therefore invalid to that extent. The Court also held that any allotment of government bungalows to private trusts/societies made without statutory backing, and without the state recovering adequate market rent, was similarly unjustified, since public property cannot be given away without proper consideration. It allowed the petition, declared the Rules bad in law to the extent of the conflict, and directed all affected occupants to vacate within two months and the State to recover appropriate rent for the period of unauthorized occupation.
Lesson Learnt
No one, not even a former Chief Minister, has an automatic right to retain government property merely because an executive rule says so; where such a rule conflicts with a validly enacted statute, the statute always wins, and public property must be used and allotted strictly within the law, with fair rent charged if it is used at all.