New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS) The Supreme Court Tuesday took serious exception to the illegal occupation of VIP bunglows in several state capitals by unauthorised people.

The states that came under the scanner included West Bengal, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir.

The court also issued a contempt-of-court notice to the West Bengal housing secretary for not furnishing details of unauthorised occupants of VIP bungalows.

A bench of judges B.N. Agarwal and P.P. Naolekar issued the notice after the counsel for the state said that following the court notice he had written seven letters to the housing secretary asking for the details to be placed before the court.

However, he received no response from the government and was, therefore, not able to provide details of the illegal occupants in the state.

The bench directed him to remain present in the court Nov 7.

Taking up the same issue in case of Orissa, the bench issued notice to eight politicians asking them why they should not be evicted by using force.

The politicians are: former chief ministers Hemanand Biswal and Giridhar Gomango, currently MPs, Prasanna Acharya, a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP, Dharmender Pradhan, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, Bed Prakash Aggarwal, Prasad Kumar Harichandra, Bijoy Mohapatra and Shambhunath Nayak, all former legislators.

The bench also directed the Orissa government to publish the list of 108 unauthorised occupants in the state in all leading newspapers.

The judges issued notice to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat to file a status report by Oct 31 regarding illegal occupants in government bungalows.

The apex court also directed estate officers of Jammu and Kashmir to be personally present in the court Nov 7 to explain why eviction proceedings were not initiated against the illegal occupants of the government accommodation in the state.

The Jammu and Kashmir government had said that since Srinagar was the summer capital and Jammu the winter capital, the legislators could be shown as migrants. However, the bench was not satisfied with the explanation.

The bench was satisfied with the action taken by the Madhya Pradesh government against illegal occupants in government bungalows there.

The matter was posted for further hearing Nov 7.