Ex-CMs’ bungalows: Notice served on MSY, govt in a fix over ND Tiwari
LUCKNOW: The estate department on Saturday served an eviction notice on former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, though it appeared to be caught in a catch-22 situation on how to serve notice on another former UP CM ND Tiwari, now ill and admitted in a Delhi hospital.
Tiwari is among the former UP chief ministers who have been served eviction notices by the state government in pursuance of the Supreme Court order directing them to vacate palatial bungalows they occupy in their capacity as former chief ministers.
“We served eviction notice on Mulayam Singhji, urging him to vacate his Vikramaditya Marg residence in 15 days from the date of receipt,” an official of the estate department confirmed. On Friday, Mulayam’s staff had refused to accept the government notice, saying that ‘netaji’ – as Mulayam is known – was away. Four other former UP chief ministers Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati have already been served similar notices on Friday.
Rajnath, who was the first to respond to the SC order by signalling to chief minister Yogi Adityanath his intention of vacating the 4 Kalidas Marg bungalow he was allotted nearly two decades ago, has already decided to shift to his 3/206 Vipul Khand Gomti Nagar residence. Kalyan Singh, currently the governor of Rajasthan too, has expressed readiness to vacate his 2 Mall Avenue residence, an official said.
The Vipul Khand residence, a 2150 square ft property Rajnath Singh purchased from the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), was being spruced up in anticipation of Singh vacating his sprawling bungalow that also houses his camp office at the moment.
“He (Rajnath) is a principled politician who respects institutions like the Supreme Court. That’s why he was the first among all former CMs to show his willingness to vacate the prime property in the high security zone of the state capital,” a BJP leader said.
“The Vipul Khand house is hardly sufficient for the home minister who is also the Lucknow MP. But, he has already rejected suggestions to retain the bungalow by getting it allotted in his son Pankaj Singh’s name, who is an MLA,” a BJP leader close to Rajnath said.
Estate department officials, however, said that the properties where former chief ministers currently reside cannot be transferred to MLAs who at the most could be allotted “type VI” accommodation. “Beyond type VI, we haven’t done any categorisation but as per government of India, norms these properties would easily classify for class VIII,” an officer said adding that it was unlikely that the state government would want to bypass the SC order on technicalities.
“The government’s intention is to implement the order in letter and spirit. As of now it does appear that all former chief ministers would have to vacate,” an officer said. However, much curiosity was still riveted on the meeting SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav had with chief minister Yogi Adityanath on the bungalow issue on Friday.