To evict unauthorised occupants from the Government allocated bungalows and flats, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (HoUA) will table a Bill called ‘the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendments Bill, 2017’ in the Lok Sabha on Monday. As per the amendment the existing prolonged procedure — of serving a notice, giving time for a show-cause, issuing a vacation order, giving time for vacation, followed by an option to appeal in lower courts — has now been cut short.
As per provisions of the draft Bill, the Government can evict even overstayed Ministers within three days.
According to officials of Urban Development Ministry, the Centre is bringing this Bill keeping in mind the shortage of Government accommodation in the national Capital. According to the reports, there are thousands of cases came into the light where Government servants did not vacate their accommodation even after the end of their terms. Also, currently, there are several cases Ministers procuring a stay order two years after the expiry of their terms have been witnessed.
“It is often seen that the unauthorised occupants do not vacate the Government accommodation on expiry of the terms and conditions of the licence as per the rules and uses dilatory tactics to withhold the accommodation, by challenging the eviction order before an appellate officer or before the High Court and by obtaining stay of the eviction order,” the draft Bill said.
The Central Government provides residential accommodation to its employees, Members of Parliament and other dignitaries while they are in service or till the term of their office on licence basis. As per the existing allotment rules, after the expiry of the terms and conditions of the licence, the occupants of such residential accommodations become unauthorised for staying in such accommodation and should vacate the same.
The said Bill, confers powers upon the estate officers to evict such unauthorised occupants from “public premises” in a smooth, speedy and time-bound manner. Under the existing provisions, the eviction proceedings of unauthorised occupants from “public premises” take around five to seven weeks time. It may take around four more weeks if the unauthorised occupants file appeal under the said Act.
However, eviction proceedings take much longer period than the timeline prescribed in the said Act. Sometimes, it takes years to evict the unauthorised occupants.
It is, therefore, proposed to apply summary eviction procedure to residential accommodation given on licence basis with a short show cause notice of three days to the unauthorised occupants by inserting new Section 3B. It is also proposed to define the term “residential accommodation occupation” by amending Section 2.
“The Bill would facilitate smooth and speedy eviction of unauthorised occupants from residential accommodations, and ensure retrieval of the residential accommodation from the unauthorised occupants without requiring elaborate procedures under sections 4 and 5 of the said Act.
This will further increase availability of residential accommodations to new incumbents and improve the overall satisfaction level,” it said.