After Mehbooba Mufti, ex-J&K minister Lal Singh told to vacate official residence
Former Jammu and Kashmir minister and Dogra Swabhimaan Sangthan Party president Choudhary Lal Singh was on Friday asked to vacate his official residence in the posh Gandhi Nagar locality by November 15.
“The estates department issued an eviction notice to the former minister reminding him that he had been occupying the government accommodation in contravention of the rules. He is also running his party office from the government bungalow. He has been served eviction notices twice so far, but he has not complied with them so far,” said an official.
“In the latest eviction notice, the department told the former minister that they were not satisfied with his response to the last eviction notice and therefore, he has to vacate the government bungalow by November 15,” the official said, adding that Lal Singh was allotted the government bungalow when he was a minister, but as he was no longer an elected public representative, he had been told to vacate the accommodation.
Jammu and Kashmir does not have an elected government since June 19, 2018 when the PDP-BJP government collapsed, after the latter pulled out of the alliance over security concerns.
The eviction notice to Lal Singh comes close on the heels of a similar notice to PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, who has also been asked to vacate her plush Fairview government bungalow in Srinagar by November 15.
Choudhary Lal Singh said, “I have paid all my rentals till October 30. How can it be called an unauthorised occupation when I have cleared all my dues and have receipts for he same.”
“From time to time, they also conduct repairs and I have been living there for the past 22 years. I am a ‘Z’ protectee like union minister Dr Jitendra Singh and there have been attacks on my life. These facilities were provided to me by the home ministry but they are bo longer comfortable with me after I formed my own party (DSSP),” said Singh.
It may be stated here that several former BJP ministers and ex-legislators continue to occupy government bungalows in the twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar. Around two years ago in December 2020, the Jammu and Kashmir high court had also took strong exception to the unauthorised occupation of government bungalows by former ministers and ex-legislators in J&K.
The estates department had then submitted a status report to the high court and named 89 former ministers and ex-legislators, mostly from BJP, who continue to occupy government bungalows, despite demitting office.
