R'than govt to recover rent from ex-ministers, babus

Rajasthan  government has calculated outstanding rent of Rs 1.90 crore against the 176 former ministers and senior officials who have not vacated the officials bungalows despite their retirements, transfers or losing elections.

The rent has been calculated on the market value, which will be deducted from the pension or salaries of retired and transferred officers and former ministers.

“Despite several notices, officers and political leaders are not vacating their official residence for past several years. An outstanding rent of Rs 1.90 crore has been calculated which will be charged from all defaulters,” said a senior official of General Administration Department.

This is the new mechanism devised by Rajasthan government to deal with retired government officers and out-of-power political leaders who are not ready to vacate their official bungalows in the state. 

The list of defaulters includes 15 former ministers who are no more alive  but their families are not ready to leave the houses. It includes leaders like former minister Sis Ram Ola, Nawal Kishore Sharma, Roop  Lal Meena, T Ahmed and others.

Apart from 110 officials who have retired or transferred out of Jaipur district, 33 former ministers and 33 legislators are also in the list of defaulters.

Large amounts

The maximum outstanding amount of Rs 18.5 lakh has been calculated against suspended waterworks department official, Dinesh Chand Bansal, followed by Rs 16 lakh against former Congress minister Mahir Azad.

Several officials presently posted out of Jaipur are also in list of defaulters. IPS officers K B Vandna has been declared defaulter for Rs 12 lakh, IPS Biju Joseph for Rs 61000, IAS Niranjan Kumar for Rs 2.16 lakh and IAS Samit Sharma for Rs 1.75 lakh.

These are the high profile officials who served at key posts in previous Ashok Gehlot Congress government.

Niranjan Arya was secretary to former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Biju Joseph served as police commissioner of Jaipur and Samit sharma was the official who introduced free medicine scheme in the state.

These officials are holding dual accommodation, both at the place of their work and in Jaipur. 

Meanwhile, officials informed that a couple of petitions have also been filed against some of the defaulters in the district courts.

These are the defaulters who were served with maximum number of official notices to vacant the bungalows.

Sources said more than a dozen new officers are still waiting for official accommodation. 

Many of them had  either been called back from deputation in New Delhi or transferred to Jaipur after the formation of new government.