The Union Urban Development Ministry has asked Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, former Union Minister Farooq Abdullah and the widow of late Congress leader Arjun Singh to vacate the Government bungalows ‘illegally’ occupied by them.
The Cabinet Committee on Accommodation (CCA) had cancelled the allotment of the bungalow to HP CM Singh in April this year. But Singh continued to overstay, so the eviction notice was served by the Directorate of Estates, said a senior UD Ministry official.
He said Singh had written to the Directorate of Estates to allow him to retain the house. Representative of the Himachal would meet meeting DoE official on September 29 to sort out the issue. Besides Singh, the eviction notice has been served a few days ago to Abdullah and Arjun Singh’s widow Saroj Kumari, the official said.
Saroj was allowed to stay at Caning lane bungalow after the Congress veteran died in 2011. The UPA Government had allowed her to stay till 2016 while the NDA cancelled the allotment and asked her to vacate the house.
Abdullah continues to stay at the Teen Murti lane house after demitting office in 2014.
The Union Home Ministry has conveyed verbally to the UD Ministry to let the National Conference leader stay on security grounds. However, the UD Ministry now wants it in writing so that it could be sent to the CCA for a final decision, the official added. Congress MPs Kumari Selja and Ambika Soni who were earlier resisting eviction notice have recently given up their lutyens’ Delhi ministerial bungalows following court’s intervention in the matter. While Selja vacated her 7 Motilal Nehru Road bungalow on September 15, Soni has time till October 10 to move out of her 22 Akbar Road house.
Both the former Ministers had been resisting the Directorate of Estates’ attempts to accommodate them in a lower notch bungalow. They continued to occupy the Type-VIII bungalows even after demitting office as Ministers. Although the RS House committee gave them alternative accommodation, neither MP accepted it.