Rajasthan’s new bill hikes penalty for ex-ministers

Rajasthan government passed a bill yesterday to prevent occupying government bungalows by ex-ministers.

As per this new bill, the ex-ministers will have to pay ₹10,000 per day if they continue to live in the government allotted bungalows after the end of their terms.

They should not continue living in those bungalows for more than two months after the end of their term, failing which leads to paying the prescribed money to the government.

The congress-led government passed the Rajasthan Ministers’ Salaries (Amendment) Bill, 2019, on July 22 by a voice vote, amid opposition from the BJP.

Currently, the ex-ministers are paying ₹5,000 per month if they stay beyond two months after their term. But, if the bill becomes law, they will have to pay ₹3 lakh per month for their stay in the bungalows.

The bill also has provisions for the forcible vacation of government accommodation. In this context, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal stated that the bill was brought into force to make sure that the new ministers get their official residences in time.

As the ex-ministers are not vacating their bungalows even after the completion of the prescribed period, it is difficult for the government to allot residences to the current ministers.

Gulab Chand Kataria, leader of opposition said that the proposal of vacating the ex-ministers from the government bungalows for allotting them to the new ministers is good, yet, the government should reconsider about the penalty as it is very high.

Many BJP MLAs are opposing this bill saying that vacating a bungalow in two months is not practical in general and the proposed penalty is too high.

However, the government thought that the existing penalty of ₹5,000 a month is very meagre and hence several ministers are continued staying in their allotted bungalows even after their period is over.

Image Credit: Richard Mcall from Pixabay (Free for Commercial use)

Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/photos/rajasthan-camel-safari-india-3122949/