Summary:
This was followed by BC Khanduri (Rs 2,81,52,434), ND Tiwari (Rs 2,39,62,088), Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (Rs 2,17,90,220), Vijay Bahuguna (Rs 1,11,91,690) and Nityanand Swami (Rs 1,56,442).In response to the findings, the HC in December, 2018, had issued notices to the six former chief ministers and sought their response within a four-week period. “The court expressed surprise about the state government’s decision and gave us time to file a reply by tomorrow (Thursday),” said Kartikey Hari Gupta, counsel for the petitioner.He added, “The supplementary affidavit filed by the state government does not mention at all any government order which waives such pending amount. Nainital: The Uttarakhand high court (HC) on Wednesday expressed “surprise and dismay” when the counsel appearing for the state government filed a supplementary counter affidavit and informed the court that the government had decided to forego unpaid rents and other amounts spent on six former chief ministers of the state.A division bench of chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice RC Khulbe was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a social activist Avdhash Kaushal, who, based on a RTI query filed by him, pointed out that the state government had not calculated the rent of the official accommodation for the former chief ministers at par with the market rates. We will inform the court that in the same affidavit, it is mentioned that finance and law departments have not consented to any such waiver and also inform the court that supplementary affidavit is misleading as the administrative note, which has been approved by cabinet, does not mention any waiver from government.”The petition said that the taxpayers’ money was being spent on providing official accommodation to the ex-chief ministers of Uttarakhand, all of whom have their own houses where they can stay.According to the data received by the petitioner, highest expenses were incurred by Bhagat Singh Koshyari who spent a total of Rs 3,70,08,661 on various facilities..