Most of 55 ex-Ministers fail to meet deadline to vacate houses

Most of the 55 former ministers have not met the deadline of vacating their official residences which ended today and the Urban Development Ministry is preparing to issue fresh notices to them.

Among the new ministers, nine will retain the bungalows they have been occupying as MPs while 29 have been allotted new bungalows to match their current stature.

Those who have been allotted new bungalows include Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda and MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra.

However, most of them cannot shift as the bungalows allotted to them are still occupied by the former ministers.

Sources in the UD Ministry said only a few of those served notices to vacate their official bungalows by today have met the deadline.

The few who have vacated include former Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

"While some have sought more time, some have also wanted to vacate," Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu told PTI.

Naidu expressed his inability to give extension beyond a reasonable period. "Extension for two/three months cannot be given because rule does not allow such thing," he argued.

The Directorate of Estates under the UD ministry is now preparing to send fresh notices to them, sources said.

Nine Cabinet Ministers including External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, Consumer Affairs Minister Ramvilas Paswan, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will continue to stay at their present address.