Centre rejects Delhi minister’s proposal to convert house into AAP office

The submission was made in the pleas filed by AAP seeking directions to the Centre to allot a housing unit from the general pool for the party’s office use

The Union housing ministry on Wednesday rejected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister Imran Hussain’s proposal to allot his house to AAP as a temporary accommodation till the party is allotted an alternative land to construct its permanent office.

Considering the contentions, the court consequently decided to hear AAP’s pleas on May 20. (HT Archive)

Centre’s counsel Kirtiman Singh submitted before a bench of justice Subramonium Prasad of the Delhi high court that the same could not be transferred to the party as it was not under its possession. Considering the contentions, the court consequently decided to hear AAP’s pleas on May 20. “This arrangement, they (Centre) are not accepting. Thus the matter is supposed to be decided,” justice Prasad said.

The submission was made in the pleas filed by AAP seeking directions to the Centre to allot a housing unit from the general pool for the party’s office use on payment of the licence fee until it is allotted permanent land for its office.

The plea asserted that section 26 (iii) of the Compendium of the Allotment of Government Residences (general pool in Delhi) Rules, 1963 allowed the president of a recognised political party to retain one residential accommodation, provided that no other allotment has been made to the official in any other capacity.

In another petition, the party also sought directions to the Union housing ministry to allot suitable land within central Delhi for the office of its national and Delhi state units in view of AAP being recognised as a national party. In this petition, the party had also sought to quash June 26 and September 15, 2023, letters issued by the housing ministry rejecting its request for allotment of land on the grounds of unavailability of vacant land at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg or another centrally located area in New Delhi.

On Tuesday, the high court had sought the union housing ministry’s stand, after AAP’s counsel informed that one of the ministers was ready to forgo the land, provided it was offered to the party. Singh on Wednesday asserted that the housing ministry had offered two plots in Saket in 2024 but the party was yet to respond.

Countering the claims, the party represented by senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog submitted that the Centre was trying to mislead the court and that the urgency had arisen after the Supreme Court’s March 4 order directing the party to vacate a building being used by the party as its political headquarters at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue by June 15. He added that though the minister was ready to forgo his accommodation for temporary use, the Centre was silent on the same.

On March 4, the Supreme Court had given AAP time till June 15 this year to vacate a building being used by the party as its political headquarters at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue, noting that the plot was allotted and required for expanding judicial infrastructure for Delhi’s district judiciary.

A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud had observed that AAP has “no lawful right to continue on the land” after its allotment to the Delhi high court to upgrade the district judiciary’s infrastructure. The bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, acknowledged the AAP’s concerns regarding the allotment of an alternative plot and had allowed the party to approach the Centre’s Land and Development Office (L&DO).