New Delhi: In a stern move, the Delhi government has ordered 87 retired officers and unauthorised occupants to vacate official flats immediately and cough up nearly ₹4 crore as dues.

The government has issued eviction orders to these retired officers who have not vacated government flats even after their retirement and warned them that they will be removed along with their belongings if they do not comply with the order.

Last month, the public works department (PWD) had launched a door-to-door survey of all the housing units and asked officials to submit a report by February 24, an exercise that was aimed at finding out illegal occupants of government flats in the national capital.

According to an official, the PWD issued an order on February 25 stating that there were around 27 retired officials who occupied Type-I flats and were asked to pay around ₹58.16 lakh as their dues.

The official said that the department has directed these 87 retired officials to pay around ₹3.98 crore as their dues.

"The non-compliance of the order would attract action under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act- 1971 and the eviction proceedings will be initiated and occupants will be removed or evicted along with their respective belongings," the PWD said in its order.

He said that around 49 retired officials have not vacated their Type-II flats and have been asked to pay dues of ₹2.19 crore.

The official said that there were 11 illegal occupants who have occupied Type-III flats, adding that they have been asked to vacate their government accommodation immediately and pay ₹1.2 crore.

The move comes days after the Delhi High Court rebuked the Housing Ministry for permitting over 550 accommodation units to be illegally occupied by retired officials and ordered the Centre to get them vacated within two weeks.

On February 5, the court had also said that allowing illegal occupation of government accommodation for several years amounts to "connivance and conspiracy".

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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