Pay rent of Rs 34 lakh or we will evict you: PWD serves notice to MP IAS officers association

india

Updated: Nov 11, 2019 07:53 IST

The public works department (PWD) in Madhya Pradesh has served a notice on the state’s IAS officers’ association asking it to pay more than Rs 34 lakh as rent against two bungalows allotted to it or face action.

The information regarding the notice was revealed in a reply to an application filed under the Right to Information Act to the department by activist Ajay Dubey.

“You were allotted government accommodation at EN-1/3 and EN-1/4 and possession of the same was given on January 1, 1999. You are supposed to pay Rs 34.56 lakh as on September 30, 2019, due to non-payment of rent,” the PWD notice dated October 24, 2019, to the association’s president said.

The notice said that the association is supposed to pay the rent through a bank draft within 15 days or the rent will be realised at the market rate which will continue to double.

An official of PWD, who didn’t want to be named, said the association may be evicted from the bungalows as per Home Allotment Rules, 2000 if it fails to comply.

The RTI activist Ajay Dubey said he had submitted the application under the RTI on September 17 and the reply was expected within a month.

“The PWD sent the notice to the association on October 24 which suggests that had I not submitted the application the PWD officers would have allowed the irregularities to go on for years and years as they did in the past,” Dubey said.

He said the responsibility should be fixed on the officials of the department as well who under the influence of their bosses allowed these irregularities causing a loss of revenue to the government.

This showed the double standard on the part of the PWD officers in the way they deal with IAS officers and other government personnel, Dubey added.

Despite repeated efforts, PWD’s executive engineer Javed Shakeel could not be reached for his comments.

The president of the MP IAS Officers’ Association Gauri Singh said the notice from PWD has just come to her notice.

“We will be looking at the details of the liability and will resolve the issue at the earliest,” Singh said.