BJP’s Ajay Sancheti was told to vacate premises in April and even sent a reminder. He, however, claims not to have received any notice.
New Delhi: A senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has been squatting in a government bungalow in New Delhi allotted to Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb, forcing Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu to order authorities to ensure its vacation.
The leader in question is Ajay Sancheti, who retired from the Rajya Sabha in April. The bungalow is 6, Talkatora Road in the national capital.
Over the past six months, the ex-BJP MP from Maharashtra has continued to occupy the bungalow, ignoring official letters for its vacation.
In compliance with Naidu’s directions, the Directorate of Estates (DoE) has started eviction proceedings, officials involved in the exercise told ThePrint.
More than 1,500 squatters have been evicted from government bungalows since the NDA came to power in May 2014 — most of them from the UPA era. Sancheti could be the first senior BJP leader facing eviction during NDA rule.
Sancheti’s eviction
Sancheti’s bungalow was allotted to the Tripura chief minister on 24 April but the former MP got an extension to vacate, which expired on 7 June.
In a letter dated 27 August, Jagdish Kumar, Joint Secretary in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, reiterated the deadline lapse to Sancheti.
Also read: How the Centre plans to evict squatter ex-MPs from government accommodation
“The family of the chief minister of Tripura is facing a lot of inconveniences in the absence of proper accommodation in Delhi. Moreover, his spouse has been provided with ‘Y+’ category security,” wrote Jagdish Kumar.
The Rajya Sabha official added that Naidu had directed that the bungalow “may be got vacated” by 11 September. The chairman, House Committee, issued directions to the Directorate of Estate to initiate eviction proceedings if the bungalow is not vacated by that date.
But Sancheti hasn’t vacated the bungalow till date.
“I haven’t received any notice. I will vacate it by 25 September,” he told ThePrint. Tripura chief minister’s secretariat didn’t respond to calls for his comments.
NDA drive
Naidu’s strict stand on the issue of eviction came as no surprise as he had gone after squatters, including prominent politicians and bureaucrats, during his tenure as Union Urban Development Minister.
Many VIPs, including former Union ministers Ambika Soni and Kumari Selja as well as former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah’s estranged wife Payal among others, sought judicial relief but in vain.
The NDA government, however, allowed former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah and former Union minister Buta Singh to retain their bungalows in New Delhi on security grounds.
Also read: How a retired UP bureaucrat got former CMs evicted from govt bungalows
Last year, the government got parliamentary approval to the amendments to the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971, providing for stiff fines for overstaying in official accommodation.
If there is space for creating an artificial pond, it could be filled with ducks …