Parties' arrears

Summary

A brief news dispatch clipped from the Indian Express of 4 May 1978, filed out of New Delhi on the UNI wire, reporting Union Minister for Works and Housing Sikander Bakht’s reply in the Rajya Sabha on unpaid rent by political parties occupying government-allotted accommodation. As of 31 March 1978, ten parties — ranging from the ruling Janata Party and its BKD partner to the two Communist parties, the DMK, Swatantra and Congress (O) — still owed the exchequer sums between a few hundred and roughly eleven thousand rupees.

The dispatch’s rhetorical bite lies in Bakht’s characterisation that the defaulters include parties ‘both existent and non-existent’ — implying that outfits which have already ceased to function politically are still holding, and failing to pay for, public premises. The clipping is preserved in the Forum of Free Enterprise’s cuttings file with a manuscript note ‘Discuss with MRP’ (M. R. Pai) and a top-corner underline flagging the Swatantra Party’s inclusion, indicating the item was pulled for internal review of party financial discipline and misuse of public property.

Key points

• One-page news brief dated 4 May 1978, sourced from a UNI wire dispatch filed from New Delhi on 3 May.
• Sikander Bakht, Union Minister for Works and Housing in the Morarji Desai Janata government, disclosed the arrears in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
• As of 31 March 1978, arrears owed to the Government of India by parties occupying its accommodation were: BKD Rs. 10,899; Jana Sangh Rs. 6,590; Swatantra Party Rs. 5,878; DMK Rs. 2,513; CPI-M Rs. 2,281; Congress (O) Rs. 2,086; Socialist Party Rs. 1,995; Janata Party Rs. 1,888; CPI Rs. 456; and the Lohia Wadi splinter of the Socialist Party a small residual figure (as printed ‘Rs. 21,24’, reading uncertain).
• Bakht’s own phrasing that the defaulters include parties ‘both existent and non-existent’ points to a governance oddity: dissolved outfits still holding public accommodation.
• The clipping is preserved in the Forum of Free Enterprise archive with the archivist’s note ‘Discuss with MRP’ (M. R. Pai) and the file number 1130, suggesting internal FFE follow-up on party accountability.