Rules do not permit a convicted and disqualified Member of Parliament to retain government accommodation, but the Centre has allowed Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad to keep his residence here. The Union Urban Development Ministry granted his request to retain the accommodation till October 2014, a Right to Information query has revealed.
As per the law, Mr. Prasad is no longer entitled to a ministerial bungalow, but following Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath’s instructions, the Ministry gave Mr. Prasad permission owing to his “diabetes and cardio problem” and because his granddaughter goes to a school in Delhi.
The Directorate of Estates that falls under the Ministry, in its reply to RTI activist Subhash Agarwal’s query, said the request was granted by Mr. Kamal Nath. The RJD chief will, however, have to pay a special licence fee for the bungalow.
Mr. Prasad is not the only beneficiary of the government’s largesse. The former Home Minister, Buta Singh, was also allowed to retain his government accommodation for a rent much lower than the market value.
