Fresh eviction order to 16 former ministers

New Delhi, Aug 8: Government has issued fresh eviction order to 16 former UPA Ministers to vacate their bungalows after the conclusion of quasi-judicial proceedings.

Sixteen former Ministers, who are not members of either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, are being served eviction order following conclusion of hearing by the concerned quasi-judicial authority, said a senior Urban Development Ministry official. The ex-Ministers including Ajit Singh, Kapil Sibal, Srikant Jena, Krishna Tirath, Farooq Abdullah and Beni Prasad Verma are being served eviction order to vacate their government accommodation without any further delay.

The eviction cases relating to 16 ex-ministers were referred to the quasi-judicial authority by the Directorate of Estate after the expiry of one month grace period on July 26. Former Ministers Girija Vyas and Krishna Tirath presented their cases in person while Sibal, Singh, Abdullah and Pallam Raju sent their representatives to the quasi-judicial authority to present their case.

Some former Ministers like Sibal informed that they have vacated the bungalows and only formalities like obtaining vacation certificates remained. The quasi-judicial proceedings on eviction notices issued earlier concluded yesterday and the issuance of fresh eviction orders also began yesterday, said the official.

Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu in a written reply earlier in the Lok Sabha informed that 16 former Ministers who had stayed unauthorisedly in government bungalows for a month as on July 26 were issued eviction notices. Naidu also informed that these former Ministers owed a total rental due of about Rs 21 lakh per month of unauthorised stay.

It is understood that most of them sought extension of government accommodation on medical grounds while others wanted some more time to vacate official accommodation after making alternate arrangements. Other Ministers referred to in Naidu's reply to Lok Sabha include Sachin Pilot, Jitendra Singh, Pradip Jain Aditya, P Balram Naik, Killi Kriparani, Manikrao Gavit and Lalchand Kataria. The official said about 70 of the former MPs out of the 258 served eviction notices are still to vacate their official accommodation and these cases are being pursued by eviction teams.

PTI