Kathmandu, June 19

Ravi Bhakta Bista, who had rented his Lalitpur-based house to former president Ram Baran Yadav, today moved Lalitpur District Court, seeking payment of rent and utility bills.

The plaintiff has said in the petition that he wanted to use his house for himself.

According to Registrar of Lalitpur District Court Baburam Dahal, the plaintiff has claimed almost a million rupees in rent and utility bills for the period the plaintiff rented his house to the former president.

The plaintiff has said he had rented his house to the former president for Rs 130,000 a month but the government did not pay it even after repeated reminders about the non-payment of the house rent. He said he repeatedly told the government to sign a written agreement but it did not do so.

The landlord has named the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Office of the President and former president Ram Baran Yadav as defendants.

A bench of judge Surya Nath Prakash Adhikari of the court ordered the court administration on Friday to accept the case as there was legal question involved in the case. The plaintiff then filed the case today.

Bista claimed in his petition that a letter was sent by the Office of the President to the government, recommending his house for the former president mentioning monthly house rent of Rs 130,000.

Dahal said he had attached reasons for refusal to accept the case, as there was no direct contract between the government and the landlord for rent.