Meira survived 2 eviction notices, says government
Manoj Mitta TNN
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&AW=1322023960964
New Delhi: Close on the heels of its disclosure that Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar owed Rs 2 crore as rent for a New Delhi bungalow, the government said that she had been in breach of a court order for 19 months till her squatting had been regularized by a cabinet committee.
In an RTI reply to activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal on November 18, the directorate of estates also revealed that it had passed eviction orders against Kumar twice in the last 21 years — the first time in January 1990 and then in July 2002.
It was her challenge to the first eviction order that led to the court order granting her time to vacate No 6 Krishna Menon Marg by March 31, 1990, as the directorate put it, "purely on procedural and humanitarian grounds".
Kumar obtained such a reprieve then because her father, Babu Jagjivan Ram, had lived in that bungalow for decades. After Ram's death, the Rajiv Gandhi government allotted that bungalow to her in 1986 in her capacity as MP.
The change of regime in November 1989 spelt her trouble as her allotment was cancelled and she suffered the mortification of facing eviction proceedings under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.
Yet, violating the judicial deadline of March 31, 1990, Kumar managed to retain the bungalow through the brief tenures of the V P Singh and Chandra Shekhar governments.
Shortly after the Congress party returned to power under P V Narasimha Rao, the cabinet committee on accommodation decided in October 1991 to allot the bungalow for life with retrospective effect from March 1990 to Ram's widow, Indrani Devi.
The Rao government's concession helped Kumar's family retain its hold over the bungalow for another decade. Then, following Devi's death in April 2002, the A B Vajpayee government cancelled the allotment in her name and ordered her family members, including Kumar, to vacate the premises.
The second eviction order was also not enforced. Shortly after the Manmohan Singh regime took over in June 2004, Kumar was again allotted that bungalow, this time in her capacity as social justice minister.
But, as the RTI reply said, "she had expressed her inability to shift there and had requested for converting 6 Krishna Menon Marg into a memorial to her father and allotment of another house to her."
Her request remained pending throughout the tenure of UPA I as "no decision was taken by the competent authorities on the issues involved."
Come UPA 2 and Kumar's desire to have another house allotted to her was automatically fulfilled.
For, as Lok Sabha speaker, she was entitled to the bungalow earmarked for that office, No 20 Akbar Road. As for the status of the bungalow she wants to turn into her father's memorial, all that the government said in its RTI reply was: "The vacation report of No 6 Krishna Menon Marg has not been received so far."
For, as Lok Sabha speaker, she was entitled to the bungalow earmarked for that office, No 20 Akbar Road. As for the status of the bungalow she wants to turn into her father's memorial, all that the government said in its RTI reply was: "The vacation report of No 6 Krishna Menon Marg has not been received so far."
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