Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari approaches Supreme Court against Uttarakhand HC notice in plea seeking contempt against him

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari has moved the Supreme Court challenging the issuance of notice by the Uttarakhand High Court in a contempt petition filed against him for not paying the market rent for a government bungalow allocated to him when he was Chief Minister of the State..In his plea filed through Advocate AK Prasad, Governor Koshiyari has stated that since he is the sitting Governor of Maharashtra, the bar under Article 361 of the Constitution of India cannot be ignored while issuing notice in a plea seeking contempt action against him..Article 361 affords protection to the President and Governors of states against legal action before courts. It states:"361. Protection of President and Governors and Rajpramukhs(1) The President, or the Governor or Rajpramukh of a State, shall not be answerable to any court for the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of his office or for any act done or purporting to be done by him in the exercise and performance of those powers and duties...".By way of background, in June 2020, the Uttarakhand High Court struck down a law brought in by the state government to validate the free occupation of state-provided bungalows by former Chief Ministers and the illegal expenditure incurred on that account over a 19-year period..The Act had been brought about to undo the effect of the May 2019 judgment passed by the High Court whereby the ex-Chief Ministers were asked to vacate bungalows that they continued to occupy free of cost despite their terms having come to an end.At the time, the Court had also directed that the former Chief Ministers pay market rent for the term of their illegal occupation over a 19 year period..Free occupation of State Bungalows by Ex-Chief Ministers illegal, Uttarakhand HC [Read Judgment].A review petition filed against the verdict was dismissed by the High Court on August 7, 2019..As per the High Court order, Koshiyari owed Rs. 47.5 lakh in dues after calculation of market value of the residential premises he had occupied when he was Chief Minister.In his SLP before the Supreme Court, Governor has contended that he was never a part of the process to determine market rent of the residential premises allotted to him..Koshiyari has submitted,"The aforesaid amount of market rent has been arrived at without any rational and is highly exorbitant for a residential premises in Dehradun and have been ascertained without affording an opportunity of participation of the petitioner in the process, which renders the process of determination of market rent arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of principle of natural justice.".It is further contended that the former CM was in occupation of the residential premises under an order issued by a lawful authority under a rule, which was not in dispute at the time of allotment. Further, he had vacated the same as soon as he was required by law to do so..Calling the market rent as "penal" in nature, Koshiyari has submitted that market rent for him appears to be much higher than similarly such placed residential premises..Two former CMs as well as the State of Uttarakhand had already approached the Supreme Court challenging the High Court order passed in May. The Apex Court had issued notice in these pleas and stayed the contempt proceedings pending before the High Court against the former Chief Ministers..Senior Advocate Aman Sinha is slated to represent Koshiyari before the Apex Court.