New Delhi, Feb. 23: Ten months have passed since the General Election but nearly half-a-dozen former MPs and ministers continue to unauthorisedly occupy government bungalows in Lutyens Delhi. This information has been revealed by
the Union ministry of urban development in response to the latest RTI query on the matter. The list of unauthorised occupants also has many bureaucrats.
As per the information released to petitioner Subhash Chandra Agarwal by the directorate of estates, the unauthorised occupants include former women and child development minister Renuka Chowdhury, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, the family of the late Prime Minister V.P. Singh, Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, Congress leader Saleem Sherwani and former law minister and noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani, besides a couple of others. The latest list, which has 22 names, includes several bureaucrats and also a former member of the National Commission for Women.
To a query as to why no strong action has been taken against those occupying the bungalows without authorisation, as was the case in connection with a couple of politicians earlier, the directorate said action is taken under the relevant section of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act as and when necessary.
As per the rules, the directorate immediately cancels allotments of those former ministers and MPs who lose elections and gives them a one-month grace period to vacate the premises. However, many politicians continue to occupy them on one plea or the other.
Mr Agarwal said the department should act strictly and implement its rules equally, without discrimination, on all those unauthorisedly occupying the bungalows.
Age Correspondent