New Delhi: Close to two months after the lease of two prominent Delhi journalists’ clubs — the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) of South Asia — in Lutyens’ Delhi expired, the Modi government is tightening the noose around one of them.
While the government is yet to renew the lease of both clubs, the Directorate of Estates (DoE) — a department under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs that deals with allotment and renewal of lease of government bungalows in Delhi — charged the IWPC with breaching allotment conditions and using its premises for commercial activities, ThePrint has learnt.
In a communication to the IWPC, sent on 31 August, the DoE said that the 5, Windsor Place bungalow was allotted to the club in May 1994 under the condition that it would be used for official purposes only.
“It is understood that other commercial activities are being carried out from the premises, which is in violation of the allotment condition,” the notice, which ThePrint has accessed, read.
“The undertaking on oath for the same has been furnished by the then president of IWPC,” the notice added.
The DoE has asked the IWPC president to submit details of the “income generated from such activities” and the “audited accounts” of the club since the date of allotment, on yearly basis, with the ministry.
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior housing ministry official, not wanting to be named, said, “It has come to our notice that IWPC rents out its premises to private parties for holding press conferences, birthday celebrations, etc. From time to time, the club also organises events like food festivals at its premises, which is in violation of its allotment conditions.”
Another ministry official said the DoE will take a final decision after going through IWPC’s response. “We are not evicting them right away. But the government’s stand is very clear. Their lease has expired and they will have to eventually vacate the premises. There will be no leniency on that front.”
A team from IWPC had met Union Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri after the club’s lease was not renewed. According to ministry sources, the IWPC was offered alternative premises to run the club. “But they [IWPC] have not got back to us on the offer,” the sources added.
IWPC president Shobhna Jain meanwhile told ThePrint that they have responded to the DoE notice: “We have told them that the club has followed all rules.”
The IWPC, India’s first association of women journalists, was started by 18 women in 1994. Today, it has over 800 members.
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‘Lease unlikely to be renewed’
Ministry sources said that at a time when it is facing pressure to give accommodation to new ministers, MPs and senior officials because of limited living space, it is unlikely that the lease of the two prime bungalows that house the IWPC and FCC South Asia, will be renewed.
The FCC operates from Bungalow No AB-19 on Mathura Road.
The DoE had last renewed FCC’s and IWPC’s leases on 4 May for a short period — till the end of July. The department had reportedly sent notices to both, asking them to find suitable accommodation and vacate the properties on or before 31 July.
A senior housing ministry officials said that same rules apply to both the FCC and IWPC. “If the lease of a government bungalow has not been renewed, the allottee will have to vacate the premises. The government has not spared even former NDA ministers who were overstaying in government bungalows long after demitting office.”
Since March, the DoE has either forcibly evicted former ministers or made them vacate bungalows that they were occupying despite not being in a ministerial post.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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