It said, The undertaking shall be filed within a period of one week from today failing which the petitioner shall lose the benefit of this order and would be liable to vacate immediately as per the order of the High Court. At the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, submitted that it may be possible to resolve the matter at this stage, if reasonable time is granted to the petitioner to vacate the premises. Sibal submitted that having due regard to the fact that the petitioner is in serious medical condition at present, Yadav seeks to vacate the premises by May 31, 2022 and would file an undertaking to this effect.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain submitted that while his instructions are that a week’s time may be granted to vacate the premises but at the most the court can grant time till the end of April. He claimed for the past 15 days Yadav has been attending public functions. The ASG said in case Yadav’s petition against his disqualification from the Rajya Sabha, because of which he was to asked to vacate the bungalow, is dismissed, then he may be directed to pay the market rate rent to the government.

Sibal said there are several people of a particular political party who have overstayed in government quarters but no rent at market rate was collected. They have been staying for years and they do not want those houses but they want this (Yadav’s) house, he said. The bench did not go into the point raised by Sibal and disposed of Yadav’s plea. On March 28, the top court had asked the Centre to specify what reasonable time could be given to Yadav on humanitarian grounds to vacate the government bungalow as he is undergoing treatment for multiple ailments.

The Centre had earlier informed the Supreme Court that there was a shortage of government accommodations and Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras was waiting for Yadav’s bungalow to be vacated. Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2017. He had moved the top court challenging an order of the Delhi High Court directing him to vacate within 15 days the government bungalow after he was disqualified from the Upper House the same year. Yadav, who was then a JD(U) MP, was disqualified under the anti-defection law on an application by his party which objected to the socialist leader attending an opposition rally in Patna.