Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)

Omar’s estranged wife can’t get govt house: Centre to HC

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NEW DELHI: Payal Abdullah, the estranged spouse of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah cannot be given government accommodat­ion on security grounds, which is available to Special Protection Group (SPG) protectees only, the Centre told the Delhi high court on Thursday.

The ministry of urban developmen­t told justice Indermeet Kaur that the government accommodat­ion, on security grounds, can be made available to private persons only when they are SPG protectees.

“Omar has demitted the office of chief minister in January 2015 and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed assumed charge on March 1, 2015 therefore, the petitioner­s were not entitled to occupy this premises, 7, Akbar Road bungalow, New Delhi, since the same was made for official use of J&K CM,” the affidavit, filed by the Centre, said.

The court, on July 12, had protected them from being evicted from their government residence here till July 28 and this was extended to August 4 on Thursday.

Concurring with the stand of the Centre, state advocate general Jahangir Iqbal Ganin said the state was faced with an extremely piquant situation in as it does not have an appropriat­e accommodat­ion to house the chief minister in New Delhi befitting her position.

The response of the Centre and the state government came in the backdrop of the court’s notice on the plea of Omar’s estranged wife that if she and her children are entitled to an alternate government accommodat­ion, then the Centre be asked not to evict them till a suitable house is allotted to them. The state government, in its affidavit, said, “The petitioner­s (Payal and her kids) have no independen­t right claim or lien on the said premises nor do they hold any official position under the state government or government of India.”

In the plea, the wife and sons of Omar, have claimed the Centre, through a letter dated September 9, 2015, allotted the 7-Akbar Road bungalow to the state of J&K as the CM’s residence with retrospect­ive effect from August 11, 2009, without following the due process of law, which was thus illegal. They have contended that even now the website of the department of hospitalit­y and protocol of the state government shows that the residence of chief minister of the state was at 5, Prithviraj Road.

Their petition, has claimed they moved HC as Omar in his response to the estate officer’s show cause notice had said he was no longer in occupation of the said premises.

As per the eviction order, the petitioner­s were given 15 days to vacate the premises.

The petitioner­s have sought that they be either allowed to continue at the bungalow, or allotted another suitable accommodat­ion where the security personnel, numbering 94, can effectivel­y protect them.

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