Evicting ex-ministers a big task for UD ministry

It may have to quickly act as two UPA ministers have already come under criticism for staying in star hotels.

Despite not holding any ministerial positions, 17 ex-ministers are staying put in posh bungalows in the national capital, including Jagdish Tytler, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shankar Singh Vaghela, Renuka Chowdhury, and Ram Vilas Paswan.

The unauthorised occupant list continues with Vinod Khanna, Saleem Sherwani, Charanjit Singh Atwal (former deputy speaker of Lok Sabha), Satyanarayan Jatiya, Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and Subbalakshmi Jagadeeshan.

As a result of this, many ministers in the United Progressive Alliance government  are forced to stay in private accommodation or state guest houses. Union Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge in staying in Karnataka Bhavan, Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao  Deshmukh in Maharashtra Sadan, while Rural Development Minister C P Joshi staying in Rajasthan Bhavan and Union Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas, Union Minister of State for Home Mullapally Ramachandran are staying in Kerala House.    

Rules state that the ministers who lose their jobs can stay upto a month and must pay rent at market rate if they continue to live there.

The government can not only issue eviction order, but can also begin court proceedings against those refusing to vacate official residences.

However, the urban development ministry only issues oral requests to vacate the residents to avoid embarrassments.

Even if they are vacated, it takes two to three months for the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) –– which is trusted with the maintenance of the government residences- to refurbish them.