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2 dozen UPA ministers quit their bungalows in Delhi

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No more memorials in

Lutyens’ bungalows

NEW DELHI: Many sprawling ministerial bungalows in Lutyens’ Delhi continue to be occupied by MPs, politicians and their relatives, the NDA government informed the Supreme Court on Friday.The court had taken suo motu notice of a letter written by former comptroller and auditor general (CAG) Vinod Rai earlier this year accusing the urban development minister and secretary of abusing discretionary powers to allow politicians and private persons to overstay in government bungalows while several government officials retired without getting official accommodation.Responding to the court’s notice, solicitor general Ranjit Kumar submitted a list of allottees, most of whom were ministers in the Manmohan Singh government. All of them, who had resigned from the council of ministers in 2012 or 2013, were allowed to retain ministerial bungalows.Among them, those who got re-elected to the 16th Lok Sabha have continued in the ministerial bungalows, awaiting allotment of appropriate official accommodation.RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who was disqualified as MP following his conviction in the fodder scam case, continues to occupy a Type-8 bungalow at 25, Tughlaq Road, ostensibly to get treatment in AIIMS and facilitate education of his grandchildren.Buta Singh, who does not hold any constitutional post and is not an elected member, continues to overstay in a Type-7 bungalow at 11A, Teen Murti Marg. The Centre had referred the case to litigation division in urban development ministry for initiation of eviction proceedings.In 2004, Singh, while being Bihar governor, had occupied a government bungalow in Delhi. The SC had ordered the government to “throw him out” of the Delhi bungalow.Agatha Sangma, who resigned from the council of ministers in October 2012, continues to live in the Type-7 bungalow at 36, Aurangzeb Road, allotment of which was cancelled on June 19 this year. “She has requested to regularize this bungalow in the name of her father P A Sangma, who is a Lok Sabha MP. The file is under submission,” the government said.Those who resigned from the Manmohan Singh-led council of ministers yet continue to occupy ministerial bungalows are Sudip Bandopadhyay, Sultan Ahmed, Sugata Roy, Sisir Adhikari, C M Jatua, Dinesh Trivedi and Vincent Pala.Two other cases of private citizens occupying ministerial bungalows have also come to light. Former PM P V Narasimha Rao ’s son P V Prabhakar Rao has been in occupation of a Type-6 bungalow at 6A, Telegraph Lane from 2006 on the ground that he wanted to “keep the belongings and memorabilia of the late PM”.Saroja Kumari, widow of former minister Arjun Singh who passed away in March 2011, continues to occupy a Type-7 bungalow on the ground of her treatment in AIIMS.“The request was considered by the then minister of urban development and given her genuine and compelling circumstances, it was decided to take the matter to the Cabinet Committee for Accommodation for allowing her further retention of bungalow at 1, Canning Lane, on payment of normal rate of licence fee (paid by ministers and MPs). CCA has allowed retention up to September 2, 2016,” the Centre said.Amicus curiae and senior advocate Meenakshi Arora told a bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice A K Sikri that allotment of ministerial bungalows to private citizens militated against the rules as well as the scarcity of bungalows for government officials.The bench asked solicitor general Ranjit Kumar to give details of the number of Type-6, 7 and 8 bungalows in Lutyens’ Delhi and how many of them were allotted from the discretionary quota, which was limited to 5% of the total number by the SC in its judgment in Shiv Sagar Tiwari case in 1994. The court also wanted to know how many were overstaying in these bungalows.While Arjun Singh’s widow was allowed to retain the Type-7 bungalow on payment of nominal licence fee, former Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar has been allowed to retain a Type-V house on the ground of serious illness of his wife on payment of six times the normal licence fee.