The Supreme Court has ordered former Calcutta High Court judge Justice BP Banerjee to vacate his official Salt Lake residence.
He has also been asked to accept Rs 30.15 lakh as construction expenses for the already-auctioned house.
A Bench comprising Justice HK Sema and Justice AR Lakshmanan asked Justice Banerjee to accept the amount without any demur and vacate the house within a week of the receipt of money, failing which the government would initiate eviction proceedings against him.
Justice Banerjee was allotted the land in the posh Salt Lake City area of Kolkata by the then West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, but the allotment was cancelled by the Supreme Court in 2004 on the ground that Justice Banerjee had managed to get it allotted "wrongfully", and the court had ordered the house to be auctioned.
The court had said that the price of the land would go back to the government, while Justice Banerjee would get the cost of construction.
In an interim application, Justice Banerjee had challenged the auction before the Supreme Court on the ground that it was not done properly.
{{/usCountry}}In an interim application, Justice Banerjee had challenged the auction before the Supreme Court on the ground that it was not done properly.
{{/usCountry}}The court deprecated the filing of such applications, terming it as an attempt to circumvent its order.
The Bench also directed the Registry not to accept any such interim applications without its prior permission.