The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Wednesday passed a proposal that will allow former chief ministers from the state to live in government bungalows for their lifetimes. The proposed changes to the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981, will have to be passed by the state Assembly, which will start its next session from Monday, reported The Indian Express.

The proposal was cleared after a Supreme Court bench on August 1 ordered the state's former chief ministers to vacate their government houses within two months. This includes Rajnath Singh, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, ND Tiwari, Kalyan Singh and Ram Naresh Yadav. A senior government officer told The Times of India that the proposed amendments will ensure these former chief ministers pay "a proper rent that will be revised from time to time.”

The Cabinet also passed another proposal to hike the basic monthly salaries of the chief minister, Cabinet ministers and ministers of state. According to the proposal, the basic salary of the chief minister and Cabinet ministers will go up from Rs 12,000 to Rs 40,000 while that of the ministers of state will be Rs 35,000.