Nainital: A day after expressing dismay at the state government’s decision to give rent waiver to former chief ministers who had occupied government accommodations for years, the Uttarakhand high court (HC) on Thursday directed the state government to submit the order of the cabinet in this regard in the form of an affidavit.The petitioner had claimed that the money was being waived off but there was no mention of any government order waiving off the rent dues. He further said that the state cabinet had no authority to waive off the rent.The petitioner also alleged that the state government had not calculated the rent of the official accommodation for the former chief ministers at par with the market rates.The government counsel asked the division bench of chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice RC Khulbe to grant time until Monday, following which the court scheduled the hearing for next week.Pending amount of rent from five ex-CMs has been calculated by the state government with BS Koshyari owing Rs 47.57 lakh, ND Tiwari (who passed away last year) owing Rs 1.12 crore, B C Khanduri owing Rs 46.59 lakh, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank owing Rs 40.95 lakh and Vijay Bahuguna’s dues amounting to Rs 37.50 lakh.Apart from rent, the former chief ministers also owe the state Rs 13 crore in miscellaneous expenses. According to data cited by the petitioner, expenses other than rent by Bhagat Singh Koshyari include over Rs 3 crore followed by BC Khanduri (Rs 2.8 crore), ND Tiwari (Rs 2.3 crore), Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (Rs 2.1 crore) and Vijay Bahuguna (Rs 1.1 crore). Former chief minister Nityanand Swami also owes the state Rs 1.5 lakh.

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