Saturday, 02 April 2022 | PNS
The Directorate of Estate (DOE) has asked former Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to vacate 27, Safdarjung Road, a bungalow that was officially allotted to Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia last year. Since Pokhriyal is no longer a minister, he is not entitled for a Type VIII bungalow.
This would be the fourth eviction in the past few days by the DoE that saw Lok Janshakti Party president and Lok Sabha MP Chirag Paswan removed from 12 Janpath bungalow, BJP Lok Sabha MP Ram Shankar Katheria removed from 7 Moti Lal Nehru and BJP minister P C Sarangi from 10 Pandit Pant Marg.
Sources in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said that former education minister ‘Nishank’ has been served thrice show cause notice for refusing to vacate a bungalow allotted to him when he was minister.
According to the guidelines of the DoE — the department under the housing ministry responsible for allocating government houses — a former minister must vacate the official bungalow allotted to him when he was minister after a month of leaving office. But despite repeated reminders, the sources alleged, Pokhriyal continued to cite various reasons for not vacating the bungalow, forcing the housing ministry to issue the show cause notices.
Nishank had earlier cited health reasons for not vacating the house. “We have shown other alternative bungalows earmarked for MPs under the general pool but he did not like them,” added the official, who did not want to be named.
The corner bungalow near Safdarjung’s Tomb was home to the Scindias for years. It was earlier allotted to Scindia’s late father, Madhavrao Scindia, when he was a Union minister. Jyotiraditya Scindia occupied the bungalow till 2019.
