Out of service, out of Government accommodation. The new normal
The Union Cabinet's decision to quickly evict people who occupy Government accommodation past the authorised period, cannot but be welcomed. The tendency of Government servants — and this includes Ministers too — to cling on to free housing at tax-payers' money, has been one of the biggest shames. Unfortunately, the squatters have never viewed it as that, but rather as a privilege they are entitled to! In other words, holding on to Government accommodation, even undeservingly so, has become a status symbol. Previous regimes are responsible in some measure to the proliferation of this practice because they treated the illegal occupiers with softness. To an extent, this may appear understandable; after all, the entire political class often gangs up when it comes to protecting the interests of its members. Still, the age-old habit had to be tackled sooner than later. Moreover, the failure of occupants to move out when they are no longer eligible, creates problems for the new claimants who have to do with temporary accommodation till the incumbent occupier moves out at his or her sweet will. This mockery of privileges, like the insistence on red beacons on cars, had to end. The illegal occupiers have been making full use of their stature and the existing rules which they twist and turn to stick on where they are. The process of eviction is long, and is made lengthier because of the lack of will on the part of the authorities to crack down. It takes four to six weeks to get a Government accommodation vacated as per present rules; in the case of Ministers, the process extends for months. There are instances of former Ministers and Members of Parliament holding on to Government bungalows for many months because they need a ‘base' in the national capital to conduct their politics. One former Minister's wife — and estranged at that — had continued to occupy a spacious Government residence long after her husband went out of power. It needed the intervention of the Delhi High Court to get her moving. There are former Union Ministers who have moved the courts against their eviction!
The new amendments approved by the Cabinet are designed to take care of the existing loopholes which have been exploited by the unscrupulous and offered opportunities to mire the entire issue into a long-drawn legal process, thus buying them time. There is an acute shortage of Government accommodation — with several bureaucrats occupying types of residences that fall well below their designation, because what they are entitled to have not been vacated. This state of affairs is highly objectionable, and unfortunate too because people who know better are brazenly using the system to serve their narrow purpose. The new amendments will make it easier for estate officials to expedite the process of getting illegally occupied Government accommodation vacated — in fact, within days of the occupant losing the right to live there.